The Tag Along
by Shi-oon Yi
Summary: He had his entire life ahead of him. Smart, handsome and athletic. His childhood friends Sora and Shiro however, not so much, reclusive, otakus and horrible social skills. Then one day they find themselves in a completely different world called Disboard. Can he survive in a world that only allows games to solve disagreements? Will he be able to overcome his huge disadvantage there?
1. Character introduction

**Kobe Tatsuya** **古部達也** **(18)**

Hello there,

My name is Tatsuya. Kobe Tatsuya. I was born 18 years ago, just outside of Toyko. I'm 180cm tall, have short dark brown hair and green eyes. I have no scars on my face, no piercings, or tattoos. My non-school attire usually entails a tight black t-shirt, black jeans, my dull kendo katana, and a red headband made of cloth made to keep my hair out of my eyes. I'm nothing really that special I think. (Don't tell Shiro that.)

* * *

My father a Japanese man and my mother an American woman. They met when my mother was teaching English here in Japan. My father was a fellow teacher and they fell in love. At least that's what they tell me. Being the son of school teachers they always pushed me to do well in school and could help if I struggled in a subject. I really liked history and science. I joined a dojo at a young age, it was my parents' way of keeping me from getting lost in video games. I had many friends in school but the only one I really got along with was a boy named Sora. He didn't talk much about his home life but he seemed to be well behaved. My parents, strict though they were encouraged me to be friends with him, little did I know that he was in an affluent family at the time. He and I met when we were in daycare, even then he acted like a model child. I always tried to get him to play with the other kids, he always stared when we played, like he wanted to play but wasn't allowed. Then I asked him to join us and from that day on we were the time we turned 11 Sora told me he got a little sister. To my surprise, she was already 4, turned out she was adopted. But what Sora told me next was the surprising part, "She saw right through me," he said. By that point, I was the only one who actually knew what Sora was like, now there were two of them. Shiro was a savant, she learned most anything almost instantaneously but she had difficulty with social interaction, as did Sora from that point onward. The three of us were then as close as family, I looked after Shiro and Sora. I sometimes wondered why it was only me that the two of them put up with when even their parent were mere strangers to them. To which Sora answered strangely enough, "Because you're Tatsuya." I always took it as they just accepted me even though I wasn't quite like them. They, who were social inept but brilliant and love games and competition. Me, a socialite and athlete who has little competitive nature to speak of.

* * *

Around the time Sora and I turned 15 his folks kicked him out for being a "Failure" and "corrupting" Shiro. Shiro, of course, went with him. His parents also didn't want to cut him completely loose, so they put him and Shiro in an apartment they owned. I figured they thought that if they were cut off from people for long enough they would come back on their own. Little did they know that they would instead thrive in this new found isolation. "Lost in their own little world of gaming," as my folks and I began to call it. One thing was dangerous though, eventually, they became so reclusive that Sora no longer wanted to go outside and met other people. His parents came to me, as I was the only one that Sora or Shiro would even talk to at that point. They requested that I bring them food and water for a week and repeat the process every week to make sure they didn't forget to eat ever. Of course, I didn't want them to die of becoming malnourished. So, because of al this, I sort of became their surrogate parent. I'd buy them food, put them to bed and occationally, in the case of Shiro, bathe them. They like having me there. And this is where the real story began.

* * *

 _ **I've decided to redo the character into so that my readers have an idea of what I imagine when I think of Tatausya's appearance.**_

 **On a side note. I have a person requesting if there is anyone who is willing to translate the story that I've written so far into French. If there is anyone willing and wanting please PM me. If there are others that would like to translate into any other language as well please PM me as well.**

 **Thank you all for reading. For those of you new to my stories, Welcome and please enjoy the story I've crafted.**


	2. Chapter 1: An unexpected situation

**Chapter 1: Unexpected situation**

 **I do not own No Game No Life.**

I'm falling…? I'm falling from what a moment ago was just the second floor of my friend's apartment complex. Why? Why is this happening? I was only bringing Sora and Shiro food for the next week. I let myself inside since they wouldn't open the door and now I'm falling from and there's this kid calling himself a 'god' or something. I get it now I tripped on something and fell over now I'm just dreaming. That's it, there's no way any of this is real. I just have to pinch myself-

"Ouch! That hurt!" Well it's official I'm either in a very lucid dream or I'm actually falling from kilometers up to a planet that I've never seen before.

"Eh? Tatsuya? Since when were you here?" Sora finally took notice of me.

"Now is not the time for that Sora! What the hell is going on and how did we get here?" I shout at him grabbing onto his shirt collar.

All he does is hold up his hands trying to not take all the blame. "Well, I'm not exactly sure myself. Shiro and I were playing chess then we were asked some questions about 'being born in the wring world' and now we're falling."

I pull him closer. "Sora, if we survive this I swear I gonna kill you!"

Shiro cries out. "The Ground!"

* * *

 _-Flashback starts-_

It's Friday afternoon and I'm on my way to Sora and Shiro's place with their next weeks worth of food. Stopping every now and them to talk with shopkeepers. I appreciate the help all the shop owners give me so I can take care of those two. since they refuse to leave their room. I've even held off on dating anyone because I need the time to help the two out. I look at my phone and text Sora that I'm a little late but I'lll be there soon.

"That idiot's probably asleep from another all nighter. I swear he's not setting a good example for poor little Shiro staying locked day in and day out. But then again it's not my place to make them do anything. I just hope they don't form a weird relationship when she gets bigger." I switch hands carrying grocery bags.

I finally get to Sora's "Sora? Shiro? I brought your next weeks worth of food." There's no answer. So I start banging on the door. "Hey! Are you awake?" After about 2 minutes I pull out my key and let myself in. "I let myself in." I announce closing the door behind me. "I brought your food-" Before me sits the siblings well into a online game of chess. It's not often that Sora participates in chess since Shiro can win with her eye's closed, who ever they're playing must be really good. I start clearing away the last weeks empty food packages. "Geez you two need to learn to clean up after yourselves."

They don't take notice of me ass they're too enthralled.

Not long after I finished cleaning the room the two finished the game. Then I see Sora typing something into the keyboard as he mumbles something about "The wrong world." Then the screens went blank and I heard a voice as well as something coming out of his monitor. All of a sudden the walls fall apart.

 _-Flashback ends-_

* * *

"Shiro!" Sora shields Shiro from the impact and I instinctually shield them both.

"Damn it!"

"Huh?" I felt an impact but we stopped just before hitting the ground. "We're alive?"

"Of course you are. I brought you here."

I get up out of the impact crater and see that kid sitting atop a large rock. "Who are you? Why are we here?"

The kid just seems annoyed with me. "If you listened when I told you, you'd know I'm god and my name is Tet and this world is called Disboard. As for why you're here, it's just happen stance that you were in the room with those two."

I'm just as annoyed as him. "Sorry Falling to my early grave must have closed my ears for a while. And why did you bring them here in the first place?"

"They earned it by beating me in a game and not liking their world. I can't talk much more I'm going home." The kid stands up. "Oh and the tenth tenant is for everyone to have fun playing games with each other." In an instant he was gone.

I join Sora and Shiro who were taking in the surroundings. "Well great. What n- oh my god! Is that a freaking dragon? Sora, Shiro let's get out of here. Let's find a town or something."

Sora finally speaks. "First thing we need to do is learn about this world then we can find a town."

I open my mouth to say something but refrain. "This place revolves around games, so following you guys would be for the best, since you never lose. I'll be the nuisance since I'm no good at games like that."

Sora puts his arm around my shoulder. "Don't worry Tatsuya, with you here I'll be able to interact in public much and I are Neets so we can't handle crowds too well."

I smile. "You're not off the hook. We're here because of you."

He backs away, nervous. "W-w-wait this is just as much Shiro's fault as mine."

"Perhaps but I can't hit Shiro. I promised I'd kill you if we lived." He starts running and I chase after him. "I'm going to follow up on that promise." Shiro just laughs at up taking pictures with her phone.

In the course of just a few hours Sora and Shiro managed to not only gather information, found a town, got money, using me as a prize every time not less. Using the money Sora bartered a room for the three of us. Turns out there is a poker contest to see who becomes the next ruler of this country. So weird, but I guess it's normal here.

I sit at the bar watching an ongoing game between two girls. One calm the other quite the opposite. I nudge Sora "That girl sure is cute huh Sora?"

"Huh? oh yeah, but that other one…"

I chuckle. "Never took you as a guy who liked flat girls."

"She's cheating."

I get surprised by his abrupt conclusion. "What? how can you tell?"

"I can't figure out how but it's quite obvious right Shiro?"

Shiro takes a picture then turns back to us. "Yes."

Sora starts walking away from the bar. "It's getting late let's head to bed guys." As he passes the two girls playing and whispers something to the red head before continuing on to the room.

I end up carrying Shiro on my back since she is very tired. "It's been a while since I've carried you like this."

"It's because we're neets. We don't go any where." She rubs her face into my back.

I find the room and put Shiro to bed and sit on my bed. "So Sora, what's your plan?"

"I was thinking about becoming king."

"Sounds goo- wait what? King? Why all of a sudden?" I fall back on my bed.

"I intend to face Tet again and for that we have to get more power. King of a country seems a good start."

I can't help but laugh sitting back up. "Ok I'm in. I'll make myself useful to your plans."

"Oh Tatsuya. You're already a key part of my plans."

"I should have figured. I'm guessing tomorrow is going to be pretty busy, so we better get some rest." I get under my covers.

In the middle of the night there is a knock at the door. "huh? who could that be?" I get out of bed and shuffle over to the door looking back at Sora for a moment. "Expecting someone?"

"No. Tell them we paid up front."

I open the door. "We paid for the room up front." In front of me stood the red head from earlier dressed in nothing but a bed sheet. I just stand there speechless. "uh…" Closing the door.

"Wait!"

I open the door again seeing her. "So I wasn't dreaming."

She blushes. "C-can I come in?"

I can't help but open the door more. "Of course of course come in. Sora, we have a guest get up." I turn back to her. "Oh um, what's your name?"

"It's Stephanie Dola."

"I'm Tatsuya. Pleasure to meet you."

She blushed. "Y-yeah."

Sora sits up, Shiro hugging him tightly at the waist. "Oh the girl from earlier. What can we do for you?"

"Why?"

Sora rubs his eyes then Shiro's head. "Why what? Oh and we're siblings so this isn't weird."

"Why didn't you show everyone that Kurumi was cheating? I couldn't figure it out so I couldn't say anything. If you said something I wouldn't be in this."

"You hear that Shiro? She's blaming me for her situation. Looks like some just didn't know when to call it quits. I could tell you but as it stands we're currently in need of a place to stay. How about we play a game of rock, paper scissors, but I'll only use paper. You win I'll tell you what I know about Kurumi cheating. But should I win you have to give us a place to live. If we tie then I'll tell you a vague detail about her cheating and you'll do a little favor for us."

"You just want a place to stay right?" She asked to which Sora doesn't answer he just sticks out his tongue.

'Oh man, I better keep a close eye on him.'

I watch as Sora plays mind games on the poor girl. She becomes noticeably more unsure of herself before they start. I remember that Sora can be so evil when it really gets down to it. 'He doesn't intend to win does he?' When they throw their hands Sora throws rock and Stephanie threw scissors. 'Knew it.'

"Well well looks like we got a tie."

"You- you wanted a tie the whole time didn't you?"

Sora laughs. "Bingo. Win or tie my outcome would have been the same."

"Well that's fine. I don't mind helping you with your housing situati-"

Sora cuts her off. "See the thing is, you're wrong that that's what the favor would be."

"What, but you affirmed when I asked."

"Think back, did I confirm it with words? I never said what the favor was."

She clearly makes the realization.

"So then the favor will be you shall fa-" I hit Sora in the stomach. "Ow, Tatsuya what the hell?"

"Sora, a word." I put my arm around Sora and pull him away whispering. "I know that look. You were about to tell her to fall in love with you weren't you."

"Well yeah. what way she couldn't deny our request for lodging." Sora explains.

I sigh. "Fine, but have it be me then. I already called dibs on her."

Sora looks at me surprised. "Since when do you show interest in girls like this?"

"It's because I don't need to look after you two anymore, you're more than capable of living in this world without me looking after you." I reason with him.

"Yeah you're right about that. Ok I can do that for you." Sora nods smiling.

"Thank you man." I let him go and we turn around toward Stephanie again. 'I'm not proud of this but if she has to fall in love with someone I'm happier with it being me.'

"Sorry about that, my friend here thought some counseling was necessary. The favor you will have to do is…" He strikes a weird pose. "… Fall in love with Tatsuya!"

 _ **This has been floating around in my head for months now finally decided to get it down. Tatsuya is merely a bystander in Sora's grand designs. I hope you all enjoy my pet project. Leave comment if you liked it. Corrections are welcome. Have a good day.**_


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Down the rabbit hole

 **Took me awhile but I finally thought of a good way to continue Tatsuya's unexpected trip to the world of Disboard. With Sora and Shiro able to turn the world upside down he can finally relax and live his life.**

* * *

 _ **Picking up right where the last chapter ended.**_

* * *

The room falls silent Sora's words echo in everyone's minds.

Stephani is the most in shock. "L-L-Love? With Mister Tatsuya?"

I see her turn her gaze to me. Her eyes get a shine the moment our eyes lock. "Oh man I feel really horrible about this, Miss Stephani. I hope you won't hate me for this." Scratching my cheek.

Before being able to process the situation. I hear Shiro grill Sora for idea to have Miss Stephani fall in love with one of us. "I'm sorry Shiro, but this way she couldn't reject our request for a place to stay."

Shiro glares at him. "Then just say she now belongs to us. Nii and Tatsu-nii you're a bunch of perverts."

Her words strike us both with an stab to our pride. "I-"

I would have said something but Miss Stephani was bashing her head against the wall actively cracking it. I rush to stop her. "Hey!"

She turned with no hesitation to my voice. "Yes, Mister Tatsuya?" She seemed really happy, but blood was running down her face.

"Umm, could you not hurt yourself like that Miss Stephani?"

"Of course. And just Stephani is fine."

I blush a bit that she doesn't want any formalities. "Oh then you could just call me Tatsuya."

She noticeably blushed and tried to hit her head but stopped short, likely because of my request for her to not hurt herself.

Sora and Shiro watch in clearly being entertained by our conversation.

"Stephani?"

"Yes?" She quickly replies, eyes sparkling bright.

I rub my arm. "I'm really sorry we did this to you."

She continues to blush. "Oh, it's not that I mind it all that much."

I can only assume that we both look down in embarrassment.

"Hey, hey Tatsuya. What about a place for us to stay?" Sora gets my attention.

"Huh? That's what you're concerned about? We just forced this girl to fall for me and all you can think about?" I scold him.

Sora only shrugs at me. "It's kinda the reason we did that even if it was short-sighted."

I can't help but sigh knowing he's right. "You know, I really hate how you're so smart for someone who never left his room in three months. It's not fair to the rest of us mortals."

Sora winks sticking his tongue out. "What can I say? I do my research. When we weren't gaming I'd read books to gain knowledge. about the world."

Grabbing him by the collar I look him square in the eyes. "Will you take this seriously? We're messing with the feelings of this girl just so we could get a place to stay!"

"I don't see why you suddenly have a problem with this, did you not ask for this a moment ago!" He yells back at me.

Clinching my fists I throw him at Stephani, who then ducked, through the door and it closes behind him.

"Wha! Hey, be careful. He almost hit me." Stephani called out. Going to the door, she checks on Sora. Sora was practically a pitiful glob in the ground.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I just thought that it was a good idea to have the girl fall in love with one of us so we could have a place to stay for free." He speaks so quickly it's difficult to understand him.

"Is- is he ok?" Stephani asks looking back in the room seeing that Shiro is in a similar condition. "Nii- Nii, where did you go Nii why did you leave me, Nii?"

Stephani is understandingly freaking out, not knowing the siblings like I do. "What is happening?"

I approach her. "It's ok, they've been like this for a long time." I grab the door. "Watch this." I push her back and open the door more so they could see each other."

Shiro sees him immediately and cheers up. "Nii!"

Sora runs back into the room. "Shirooooo!" He jumps on the bed and hugs her. "That wasn't cool Tatsuya."

"Tatsu-nii is so mean." Shiro glares at me pouting.

"Your words wound me Shiro." I turn to Stephani. "Hey Stephani."

"Yes?" Her eyes glisten again, I'm not sure if I'd ever get used to it really.

"Would it be possible for us to stay with you for a time? I don't want to impose-"

"No no, it's fine, I'd love to have you and your friends say with me…" As she say this she's trying to hit herself but always stops short again due to my request that she not hurt herself.

I place my hand on her shoulder to get her attention. "Hey, I want to say this now. I'm gonna work so that you won't have to force yourself because of this worlds crazy rules. I'll make it so that it's genuine one day." I smile warmly.

I notice her face flush red and she quickly looks away. "Wh-why would you say something like that? You've already won and got me like this. So why bother?"

I smile, responding not even a moment after she asked. "Because, I didn't want to make you suffer like this, I wanted to make you smile on my own efforts."

She wouldn't look at me. "O-ok."

"Um, hey you guys. If you're done flirting, the rooming situation…?" Sora gets our attention.

Stephani and I look away from each other a bit embarrassed having temporarily forgot that Sora and Shiro were there the whole time. I glance at Sora wearing a grin I'd never seen before. "What is it?"

"Stephani, until the poker contest is over with you are still the princess correct?" Sora seems to have ignored me.

Stephani snaps back to normal. "Oh, um well yes I suppose that's true."

Sora rubs his chin, he's planning something, I just know it. "Then could I assume that you have a library in the castle?"

"Yes, why do you ask?"

 _'_ _Oh boy, well at least this one doesn't seem so devious.'_ I think to myself as Shiro walks up to me waving for me to come down to her level. "What's up Shiro?"

She whispers. "Nii has a new plan. For it, we need to learn the written language of this world."

"When will I be filled in on the details?" I ask her just as softly.

She shakes her head. "It's better for you not to know. You have no poker face."

I can't help but sigh since she's entirely right. "Well, can you two at least try not to use my freedom as a bargaining chip from now on…? doubly so for Stephani."

"There's no need to have you as the prize for the next while." She tells me, even if unconvincingly.

"What you want access to the royal library?" Stephani shouts directing my attention away from Shiro who heads back to bed. "You absolutely can not go in there, only royalty is allowed on there."

Sora glances at me. "But Tatsuya here needs to learn the language, he can't read at all. And how could he possibly learn it with the library used by the royal family?"

She looks at me face burning red. "y-you have a point."

 _'_ _He has no point… I can tell this is part of his plan though so I'll go along for now.'_ I think to myself. "It would be nice I you would teach me, the language here."

"O-o-o-of course, I'd be delighted to." She can't deny me, or the chance to help me it would seem.

"Would it be possible to bring Sora and Shiro with me? I don't want to leave them alone here. Since they don't do so well on there own."

"Ye-yes of course they can come." She cliches her fist wanting to hit herself for giving in so easily.

Sora claps his hands. "Great, then let's head over there first thing in the morning." He collapses on the bed with Shiro quickly following suit.

I scratch my head. "So, Steph-"

"Yes?" Her eyes sparkle a bit.

"Ah, uh I don't really know how to say this but…" I pause thinking of a way to say what I mean as delicately as possible. "It's pretty late and I wouldn't want you to walk home at a time like this, so, you can sleep in my bed until morning." I hide my face behind my hand trying to not blush myself.

"S-s-s-sleep in you bed?" Her whole body is shaking.

I put up my hands in defense. "No, I mean that I'll be sleeping on the floor. I wouldn't suggest that we sleep together. We only just met."

She noticeably calms down. "Oh, then that's fine, I suppose." I might be sleepy but I could swear I heard some disappointment in her voice just now.

"Then shall we get some shut eye?" I sit against my bed, coddling the sword that I carried with me when we were brought here. I feel the bed shift as Stephani got in it. The night goes by and it was rather hard for me to get any sleep but there were a couple of spurts of time that I got some sleep. At one point I could have sworn I felt someone touch my hair as I slept. _'Couldn't be…'_ I go back to sleep.

When morning came of course Sora and Shiro were well rested, yet for some reason Stephani was half asleep like I am. "Well don't you guys look like a couple of zombies." Sora teases.

I yawn. "Shut up Sora, I'm too tired to put up with you right now, let's just get to the castle already?" I gripe rubbing my eyes.

"Sure sure. Lead the way Steph."

She sheepishly nods then realizes something. "Who said you can call me Steph?"

"Guys please not so loud, it's too early and I'm far too tired. Can we just go?" I stop them both.

Stephani light up. "Of course." She starts to lead us through the city still wearing the, I think it's a potato sack. I notice that several citizens look at us and in particular Stephani with judgmental eyes and I even over hear some people saying something about a foolish king.

 _'_ _Could her father have been a cruel or weak-willed man? Maybe I shouldn't bring this up. With this poker tournament happening it likely means that he died pretty recently.'_ I think to myself for quite some time before I walk right into Sora who had stopped walking. "Hey, why'd you stop?"

"What do you mean? We're here." Sora points up.

When I look to where he was pointing I see a large gate, the gate to the Royal palace of the human race in the world of Disboard. "Amazing."

"Come, Tatsuya, I'll show you the whole castle." Stephani grabs my sleeve and starts to pull me with her into the castle. Sora and Shiro follow close behind. However soon after we arrived we were greeted by someone unexpected to Stephani. What are you doing here?" In front of us stood that girl that was playing Stephani yesterday.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm on my way to be coronated as queen of Imanity." The girl wore a veil over her face. "The better question is who let you in here former princess with a foolish king for a grandfather? Actually I'm glad you're here. You can have this back." The girl pulls out the dress that Stephani had been wearing the day before, but instead of handing it to her she drops it on the ground. I notice Stephani shaking, as she reaches down to pick up the dress.

"Hey-"

"Stop princess, this is part of the game." Sora had stopped both of us, picking up the dress himself and handing it back to the girl. "This, along with the crown, still belong to you…" I know Sora had an evil look in his eye, from the girl's reaction, the kind of look that will make me regret everything from that point on. "For the moment that is." He starts to laugh lightly. Causing me to get chills.

Looking back had I known the real reason Sora wanted to get into the castle so badly, I might have tried to stop him…

* * *

 _ **I know. It pretty much all took place in one room but I'm taking this one slow. Working out plot points and going through several ideas before I decide to choose the path, plus with it being a direct first person narration a lot more can happen in scenes or just what he notices... As always, I encourage critiques, corrections, rants, comments, shares and of course suggestions. There are no bad comments. Until next time Shi-oon out.**_


	4. Chapter 3: Through the Looking Glass

**Chapter 3: Through the looking glass.**

 ** _Picking up right where we left off._**

* * *

 _Oh who am I kidding, no I wouldn't have._

The two stare down each other. The girl speaks first. _'You've already lost.'_

"Are you challenging me in the king's tournament?"

"So you're as smart as Stephani here, good for you. That's exactly what I am doing here. In accordance with the laws you can pick any game you like. You'll never be able to defeat us." Sora eggs her on.

"What do you mean us?" The girl asks.

"Yeah, what do you mean us?" I followed up.

He pats Shiro's head causing me to sigh in relief. "My sister here and I count as one player. Do you agree to that?"

The girl smiles. "It doesn't matter how many of you there are there's no way you can defeat me.

but you'll have to wait till tomorrow, the coronation ceremony was about to begin but we'll have to sent them home for today."

"Then go ahead and pick your game and your rules and we can begin. But-" I notice the girls expression change.

 _'what's wrong with her?'_ I get closer to Sora and see the most terrifying expression on Sora's face that I'd ever seen.

"- There will be no backing out if you get scared, you can even cheat all you want. It'll make it all the better when bring you crashing down to earth."

Sora walks passed the girl with Shiro in tow. "Tatsuya, let's go have a look around. I want to get to the library as soon as possible. Bring the princess as well."

I can't help but be astounded. Sora in such a short amount of time has become so reliable that I can't possibly be any help to him anymore. "Oh, right." I go back and get Steph off the ground. "Come on Steph, we better go."

"Are-" I hear the girl say something.

"What?"

She turn to Sora. "Are you suggesting that I have been cheating?"

Sora stops and looks over his shoulder. "Tatsuya."

"Hmm?" I can't figure him out anymore.

"Quit daydreaming, let's go." He continues on, ignoring the girl.

"Oh, got it." I help Steph walk and when we catch up to Sora I finally decide to speak up. "Sora, I had no idea you could make that kind of face."

"Tatsuya…" Sora stops me.

"What?"

He glances looks at me with a smile. "Do you trust in me and my abilities?"

I am perplexed by his attitude. "That's an odd question for a time like this…"

"Humor me."

I close my eyes and lower my head. "Quite the loaded question, but I think you already know the answer full well… 'My King'."

Sora sighs in relief. "Good because when Shiro and I win we're going to need you to keep us in line. You know people better and can speak to them much easier that I. Will you be our right hand?"

I hit him in the arm.

Sora rubs his arm. "Ow. What was that for?"

I sling my arm around his neck putting him in a head lock. "For asking a question with an obvious answer. You know I can't leave you two alone."

"Hey hey, don't do that." Sora slips out of the headlock fixing his bedhead.

Shiro giggles entertained by our interactions.

"Hey." Steph finally comes back to earth and gets our attention.

I turn back to her. "What is it miss Stephani?"

"I don't understand something that Mister Sora said. What did he mean that 'this is part of the game'? I don't see what he means." Stephani asks flat out. As I thought about it what she said made sense, I didn't know what he meant by that either.

Sora sighs. "You're such a Steph."

"What?" I just didn't catch what he said.

"Such a Steph." Shiro follows up.

"Di- did you just use my name as a derogatory term?" Stephani seemed to catch on completely.

I scowl. "Sora…"

Sora holds up his hands in defense. "It's her own fault for not paying attention." He looks at Steph. "The game started the minute we came into contact with the one named Kurumi. Any wrong moves and she would have not accepted the challenge. The fact that she clearly cheated to us when she played you, and likely all her other opponents, she must have a reason to want the throne so badly. To confirm our theory I want to view your library, with the challenge presented you are still the crown princess and have full access to the royal library. So could we get there as quickly as possible?"

 _'Wow, he's thought that far ahead? I wonder how much further ahead than that he's thought through.'_ I think to myself. "Sora…" I pause for a moment. "When the hell did you become so reliable?"

"Who said I became this way?" He smirks. "I just never had a good place to shine back in our world."

"Right… that's the reason." I tease.

"Other wor-"

"Stephani, if you please can you lead us to the library?" I ask her.

She lights when I call her. "Of course." She proceeds to lead us to the library. "Here is the royal library. Is there a kind of book you are looking for in particular?"

"History and all of it." Sora quickly tells her.

"Oh that's simple enough this entire wall is all the history that we have." She motions to the back wall.

Shiro grabs one and quickly starts looking through it. I decide to look over her shouldr to see what it says only to realize that it was in writing that I had never seen before. "What in the hell?"

Just as quickly as I realized I couldn't read it at all, Shiro closes that book. "Learned it."

"What? That fast?" I'm stunned by just how quickly she picked it up.

She turns to me and tells me. "It's easy when the spoken language is no different, you just have to figure out what symbol corresponds with our alphabet. Tatsu-nii is just slow."

I rub the top of her head, and shows a face of _'I did good.'_. "We all can't have super computers for brains ya know Shiro. I'm proud of you. Aren't you proud Sora?" I turn to see that Sora had also learn the written language and had started reading.

"Step up your game Tatsuya. Shiro only beat me by about 30 seconds. But yeah, I'm proud of her, of course I'd be proud of my partner."

I sigh. "These siblings…"

"Are you telling me that you came in here unable to read but in moments you learned the language of Imanity?" Stephani realized what just occured.

I shrug. "It looks that way… for them at the least."

"Hey, Steph." Sora calls out.

"What, what is it now?" She's clearly annoyed by him calling her "Steph"

"Would it be possible to get some snacks in here."

"Tea as well." Shiro adds.

"Why should I get you anything?" She frustratedly asks.

"Actually Miss Stephani, I'm fairly hungry as well, but since I don't have the ability to read the language I'd like to try some cooking from the castle. I'll even help in the preparation." I offer.

She turns red, imagining something that I hope is wholesome. "Y-y-you don't have to do that Tatsuya. You can just relax here." Again she tries to harm herself but stops short.

"I insist, it'll give me something to do while those two study up on history. Besides it'll be a good way to talk and get to know each other better." I rub may nose trying to hide my own blush.

She nods slightly red as a tomato. "The kitchen is this way." She leads me out of the room.

Just before I leave Sora and my eyes meet and I mouth. 'Be nice.' To him, before following Steph the kitchen.

* * *

 _-15 minutes later-_

The kitchen is massive, it's how I imagined one that would be in one of those large and fancy restaurants. Ingredients that I have never seen before. Though I guess that being in a new world allots for such exotic ingredients. "This kitchen is amazing Stephani. You'll have to show me some of your favorite kinds of food. I'll even make you some of mine." She starts frantically making something. Making the staff just stand back not sure what to do.

"Oh stop, this is nothing much. I can't really cook that much." She already starts cutting cookie dough. Only to stop before the second cut. "No! I can't do this. I challenge you for my heart's freedom."

I stare at her a moment and sigh. "I was afraid you'd do something like this. I'm not very good at games so I'll have to decline you're challenge, not to mention you haven't offered anything as collateral."

"We can have a cook off and I'll offer…" She pauses. "… I'll offer my body."

I clap loud to get her attention. "I refuse. I told you that I don't want short cut, I'll make it so you fall for me on your own so that the game condition is not the reason anymore. I only let this happen because I didn't want it be be Sora that you were forced to love. SO I cannot accept a condition like that even if I don't have a hope in winning."

"Then what? What do you want so that we can have a match?" Stephani seems desperate.

I think about it for a moment then I come up with something snapping my fingers and softly hitting my fist into my palm. "Ah I got it."

"You do? What is it?" Stephani has an eager smile.

"I want two things. First: I want you to tell me stories about this world. Second: I want you to teach me how to read the language of Imanity. Does that sound agreeable?"

She nods. "Yes, I can agree to that… This World? You and Sora keep say things like 'other world' and 'this world', what do you mean?" She asks.

"Oh, that's um, how do I say this? We came from a world parallel to this one, one with only humans and no magic… or dragons. We were brought here by this kids calling himself Tet or something. I wasn't even supposed to be with them in the first place, I just happened to be in Sora and Shiro's room when they were summoned. So I guess I'm something of an unwanted tag along."

"T-T-Tet?" Stephani yells in astonishment. "You were brought here by the one true god Tet?"

"Yea I guess I was." I rub my head bashful.

"So you've met Tet?"

"Little guy, wears a stupid hat, scarf, short hair and multi-colored eyes?"

"That's how the paintings depict him."

"Then yes. I've met him." I chuckle.

"How can you be nonchalant about meeting God?" Stephani shouts.

I shrug. "We didn't really have the best interaction. He clearly didn't want me to be here."

"Then why didn't he sent you back?"

I look out the window. "I don't really know? Maybe he couldn't. Maybe he couldn't be bothered. Maybe he just thought it would be more fun for him this way. Or maybe it was because I wanted to stay by Sora and Shiro's side to keep them safe. Who's to say for sure, except for him." I wash my hands. "So Steph, what's the restriction on the dish?"

"Oh, right. I completely forgot." She ponders for a moment. "How about it just be something that can be made in under 45 minutes."

"Ok." I turn to the kitchen staff. "Can I ask you guys to give me some ingredients?"

"Of course sir. A friend of the princess is always welcome to use the facility." The head chef agrees gives me everything I asked for, everything except for chicken as those don't exist here. She gave me something I never expected, dragon meat. Surprisingly it has the same texture as kobe beef so preparing it was no issue. In the 45 minutes I was allowed I made dragon katsu curry over rice. It felt weird though, all the cooks were watching me intently, I soon found out that the way I was cooking didn't exist in the world… I think I just invented stir-fry and curry here.

* * *

 _-45 minutes later-_

Stephani sits on the floor in defeat. The kitchen staff had unanimously chosen my dish as the better of the two. A bit unfair as I made something that didn't exist in the world yet. But when I tried Stephani's it was delicious she had baked cookies, the ones that were going to be made for Sora and Shiro.

"I can't believe I lost, I was always so proud of my ability to bake." She sobs.

"Please don't cry, I'm sorry. I didn't think that this kind of cooking didn't exist here." I sigh placing my hand on her shoulder and smile when she looks up at me. "At least there's no grey area in these conditions though. I look forward to my lessons with you."

She blushes and hides her face in her knees. "That's not fair."

"Hey I played fair and square unlike- oh man I forgot about those two." I quickly dish up two servings of my curry and rush it back to the library. "Sora. Shiro. Look at this. You'll never guess what kind of meat they had in the kitchen." I try to act like it didn't take over an hour to the food they asked for.

They glare at me from behind a massive pile of books. "That's what kept you? Come on Tatsuya, where's you pride as a man. I purposely asked her for food knowing you'd go with her. Did you even try to make a move on her?" Sora asks. "Oh and I found out something that may interest you."

"I'm not depraved like you are. What is this thing that you're talking about?" I humor his claim putting the curry down only for Shiro to swipe them both quickly and run them over to their table. "Ok what i- hey!"

Sora had thrown a book my way as I was putting the food down, by luck I managed to catch it before it smacked me upside the head, looking at it I still can't read a lick of it. "Let's try that again. What is it?"

Sora and Shiro eat the curry and sigh in satisfaction before Sora begins again. "It's an old fighting and combat manual with an emphasis in-"

"Swordsmanship." I finish his sentence. Looking further into the book seeing diagrams and drawings of swordsmen.

"Exactly. It'll be good insight to find out how the old Imanity fought and survived in the wars of old. You know more about combat than I do so I think that's better suited for you to check out.

"Wars of old you say?"

Sora proceeded to tell me about the history of the world and I requested that he leave some less crucial things out, so that Steph would have something to tell me when the time came.

"Wow, so that kid that brought us here is only the one true god because he stayed out of conflict?"

"Correct and he left the 16 intelligent races the ten laws, race pieces and effectively left." Sora continued.

"Well did you learn anything for the game tomorrow?" I inquired.

"Nope… That was never actually my goal. We'll beat her even with the help of the elves backing her."

"Elves? How do you know it's the elves?" I am stunned by the jump he made.

"It's pretty simple really. There's only two countries that border Imanity: The elves to the east and the warbeasts to the west. The warbeasts have about as much magical prowess as humans so they can manipulate anything to the extent that the elves can."

"And how is knowing that going to beat them? Apparently you have to prove without a doubt that they are cheating." I respond to his claim Hair on the back of my neck stands up for some reason.

* * *

- _Fi watches us with magic-_

* * *

"We're not going to catch them or report them. We have a secret weapon that they can't defeat." Sora and Shiro high five. "Also we already know the game, while you were gone the girl came by to tell us herself, as well as try to convince us to withdraw. Meaning…"

"She doesn't think she can beat you two…" I look up feeling as though I was being watched.

Sora winks then also looks up with a smile.

* * *

 _-With Fi-_

She closes her eyes. "That was odd."

Kurumi was with her. "What was?"

Fi turns to her. "For a moment it almost looked as though he knew I was watching them."

"Who the one who challenged me?"

Fi shakes her head. "No, the other man. I believe he is called Tatsuya."

* * *

 ** _That's it for this chapter. Next time we have Sora vs Kurumi. I'm not giving Tatsuya magic, I'm only giving him the ability to sense it as he is one of the only humans to have martial art training he has slightly heightened senses. I juggled with the idea of Stephani winning the match but opted against it. I'll let you all specualte just what the secret weapon that Sora has up his sleeve is. And as always leave a comment if you liked it, leave a comment if you didn't like it. And I'll see you all next time on "The Tag Along" Chapter 4 Old habits die hard._**


	5. Chapter 4: Game of Shadows

**Chapter 4: Game of Shadows**

* * *

"I swear… I GONNA KILL YOU SOME DAY SORA!" I find myself standing on a man-sized chessboard. Of course being suckered into another one of Sora's damn schemes. _'How was he able to convince me to take part in this thing.'_ Above me on a balcony over looking the board was of course… Wait it's the girl from before. _'And why am I on her side of all things?'_

* * *

 _-1 hour earlier-_

I shake the sibling in an attempt to wake them. "Sora. Shiro. Wake up you two, your game… match… whatever you want to call it here, is about to start and you two are just sitting in bed like you've already won."

Shiro, of all people, pats my head. "That's because we have Tatsu-nii. There's nothing to worry about. Ok?" She tilts her head trying to be adorable, of course she is, but that's besides the point.

I pick her up. "That's not gonna happen if you don't show up you know. Let's at least get you dressed and brush your hair so you'll be a pretty Queen when you two win."

"With a pretty bow?"

I grin at the childish question. "Hai hai. With a pretty bow." Even though she's a super genius she's still a little girl, for some reason even her adoptive parents would treat her as a grown up when her abilities were discovered. She's just a little girl and she wants to be treated like one if not just every once in a while. It seems that it's only ever me who treats her as such, even Sora just treats her as a direct equal so she never gets to act like a child unless she's with me. It's the little things I get to enjoy, seeing her like this. "This is going to make Sora freak when he does get up and you're not beside him." I tease her.

"Then don't leave the room." She instructs me playing the innocent little sister card again.

"Hai hai, whatever you command. What color dress do you want to try on? Stephani is letting you use the clothing that she grew out of."

Shiro actually thinks for a moment. "Hmm, yellow!" She has a very satisfied smile on her face.

"I think I see just the one." I carry her into the closet, then put her down to pick out the dress. It's a bright yellow dress with white frills along the trim and a big red bow on the front. "How this?"

Her eyes glisten. "Yes." She raises her arms and just leaves them there.

"What are you-?"

"Dress me Tatsu-nii." She gives her innocent look.

I can't help but sigh. "Alright alright, but you'll eventually get too old for me to do this confortably you know. Maybe I'll start having Stephani dress-" She gives me a death stare with a tear in her eye.

"NO! Only Tatsu-nii, you're the only one who can treat me like this, as the future Queen this is my first decree." She seem dead set.

So of course I concede. "Alright, you win." I remove her pajamas and put the dress she chose on her. "Oh look at you, you're so cute in that dress. Now to give your hair it's due." I chuckle at my own pun. I couldn't see her face but I was certain she was unimpressed with me.

"Hahahaha! Oh, man Tatsuya that physically hurt me." Sora stands at the entrance of the closet laughing at my expense, he must have woken up when SHiro yelled at me. "How long did it take for you to come up with that-" He gets distracted by a jacket hitting him in the face. "What's this for?"

"If you are to become king you better dress the part. I won't allow the two of you to go around being slobs. King or no king, Queen or no queen, you two are always going to be just Sora and Shiro to me. I'm always going to keep you two presentable, oh and I won't be taking any orders from you Sora." Brushing Shiro's hair as I tell them, tying in a red bow to match the one on her dress.

Sora pulls the jacket down. "Oh speaking of which, there's something else that that Kurumi-girl and I decided yesterday when she came by. Probably should have said this earlier." His face was devious.

I get a cold sweat, even stopped brushing Shiro's hair. "I don't like the face you're making Sora. What did you decide?"

* * *

 _-Now-_

So APPARENTLY as a show of good faith I've been made into a living chess piece for the enemy of my friends. Using the logic that " _I'm just a mindless drone that will follow her orders without question."_ Supposedly she was considering rejecting their conditions in fact, but Sora offering me as collateral convinced this girl to keep with the match. Placed as a Knight I found myself as the vanguard of this Kurumi girl. She's so blood thirsty. I noticed that no matter how many pieces I took out my position kept moving forward until I was "Behind enemy lines" as it were. Not only that but Shiro would purposefully leave me be. Over the course of the game Kurumi's side somehow managed to convert several of Shiro's which I didn't think was part of chess I must admit. But when that happened I felt a great chill down my spine. _'what is this feeling? It's coming from the ceiling. Looking up I swear I see a motion: in the rafters._ Soon all that remained in Shiro's pieces were the king, three pawns and both rooks. Kurumi sent her Queen to take out Shiro and Sora's King but just before the strike Sora did something completely wreckless, but just what was needed. He stood before the piece and pleaded with it and before long through nothing but words alone the piece changed colors, and turned toward Kurumi. _'So that's his game, this is no longer Chess but in fact a War between two great kingdoms. Did Sora do this just so I can participate or would it have ended the same regardless of my involvement?'_ Being so far on Shiro's side I as a knight had two options, turn Traitor or attempt to assassinate Shiro's King. Turning traitor would be easy, but putting the pressure on Shiro might turn out to be fun for me as well. Not like Shiro and Sora haven't thought of that as a turn of event anyway. _'I'm guessing that this'll be over within 30 seconds. Better do something fun while I can.'_ I get the same chill as before. "This again?"

Suddenly Kurumi's voice raises, while I was busy examining the board Kurumi gave an order. "All pawns advance and kill the traitors! Kill them like the dogs they are!"

"5… 4… 3…" As I'm counting down the pieces that were about to attack the former queen drop their weapons. I B-line for Shiro's King. "2… 1…" Using the prop sword I was given I slash at her kings throat.

"And that's the match. Winner Blank!" Stopping just short of the king I look to Kurumi's side. Her king was stabbed through the back. By a pawn that had apparently slipped behind the lines.

"Right on time, looks like I was too slow, this time." Leaving the board I join Stephani on the sideline.

Stephani's eyes were lit up. "My word Tatsuya, the way you moved out there. I've never seen anything like it.

Unable to act causal I blush and rub my head. "It's nothing really, I still have a long way to go." I watch as Sora crosses the room to approach Kurumi.

"No no, you fight like a warbeast. So cool." She insists.

"You're too much Miss Stephani." I can't help but feel bashful. Before long it seems that Sora with nothing but words caused the previously collected Kurumi to start crying. "Hold that thought Miss Stephani… I gotta go give Sora a lesson in manners again." Leaving her side I head up the stairs to Sora, Shiro and Kurumi.

"Sora…" He visibly flinches at my voice.

"Tatsu, no it's not what you think, I didn't say anything that should have made her cry. I swear." He prostrates in front of me. "All I did was pull up her little veil and she suddenly lost all composure."

"I didn't underestimate anyone. I was trying so hard." Kurumi is still balling her eyes out.

Sora raises his head slightly. "But it really looked like you were gunning to make us lose there."

I approach Kurumi. "Because I was you idiot." I pat Kurumi's head, when I do I feel a malicious aura directed at me. _'let's see what happens when...'_ "My my, did the big bad Sora treat you badly miss? Here." I pull her veil back over her face. "Better?"

Kurumi looks me in the eyes seemingly regaining at least a little composure nodding, her eyes still puffy from the crying.

"Now then…" I look up at the ceiling. "Hey you, watching in secret, come out now and retrieve your comrade, if you do not I will decide to take this young lady as a prisoner!" The entire room gasps.

"Someone's watching in secret? How does this kid know?"

"Did that boy just say, he intended to take Kurumi prisoner? For what purpose?"

I grab Kurumi by the arm and pull her up. "Guess they weren't that interested."

 ** _"How?"_** A soft voice rings in my head.

I looked puzzled. "What's this?"

 ** _"How can you tell that I'm watching?"_ ** The voice rings again.

I look around and realize that no one else can hear this voice. "Hmm… alright let's go Miss Kurumi. Seems you'll be our prisoner for the time being." I begin to escort Kurumi out of the game room.

"Oh, Sora, Shiro." I call to them. "Make sure you dress appropriately for your coronation. I'll be indisposed for the time being."

Sora stands up. "Tatsu what are you talking about?" For once, he, didn't know what was happening and I wasn't gonna let that opportunity slip through my fingers just yet.

"I just have a lot on my plate with my lessons from Miss Stephani. I won't have time to look after you two the next few days. Ok, so be good and eat right. Stephani, would you care to join me?" I flat out lied to them.

Stephani followed without a word and we left the room.

* * *

 _-In the hall-_

I felt horrible at the time, but I felt this was for the better. While leading Kurumi to the room where I would hold her prisoner we were met by a young looking girl with pointy ears and an elegant dress. "If you value your well being you will let my Kurumi go."

"An elf?" Stephani was in shock. "Gu-"

I hold up my arm to stop Stephani. "No, Stephani. Not yet." I examine the woman before me. "That voice…" I manage to make the connection, but didn't not release Kurumi. "So it was you that I heard in my head… How were you doing that?"

Kurumi tries to break free, but is unable to break my grip. "With magic you idiot, nearly all the races above warbeasts can use at least some form of it. And Elves are in the top half of that.

"Magic huh? I wondered why I felt so weird." I nod my head realizing the situation. "You used magic to brainwash Shiro's pieces there was no choice in the matter, am I right?"

"I said, let Kurumi go." The elf was close to yelling.

"Tsk" I can't help but feel a little annoyed that I was ignored like that. "I'm afraid I cannot comply with that demand Miss- I'm sorry I didn't get your name." I lower my head in apology. "I gave you the option to retrieve her earlier. You did not take it, so I cannot allow this prisoner to escape."

"She belongs to me."

"Based on those words alone, as your slave it would seem. I know I gave you an ultimatum, either get her then and out the elves as conspiring to take control of the last of the human countries, or break her out later further proving that, now that I've seen you, the elves want the human territory for themselves, thus the human's would seek retribution, but the only way you'll be able to do so is to take her by force which is forbidden."

"Kurumi isn't my slave anymore, she is my precious friend, I challenge you to a game for her." The elf is starting to lose her composure.

"Fi…" Kurumi is clearly touched by her words.

"I refuse." I bluntly state.

"What, why?"

"You have nothing that I want to put up for Kurumi's return to you. I'm sorry but you will have to wait for her sentence to be up." I tell her.

The elf is positively steaming mad at me. "How long is that?"

"A day." The three girls around me are dumbstruck by my straight forwardness.

"Then why bother at all?" All three of them asked inunison.

"Simple, I just wanted to confirm something. And the fact that you're here means that I was right… I can sense magic for some reason. As for why I'm taking her prisoner, it was merely for show. Sora and Shiro are sharp. They knew that you two were cheating, but instead of calling you out, they decided to show you that there was no way to beat them even with the cheating methods you used… Miss Fi was it? I'll let you know this now, those two are the only ones that can unite this fractured world that you live in."

Fi's eyes widen. "How can you be so sure of that when no one has been able to conquer a single race in the millennia since God made the world like this?"

I give a big smile. "Simple. Because I believe they can." I start laughing unable to hold back my tears.

"What's so funny?" Kurumi glared at me like she wanted to stab me.

I wipe away a tear from my eye. "Oh man, because there was no way I could say that with a straight face. No the real reason is because they've apparently beat your god once before."

"Those two faced the one true God Tet and won?" Fi was unconvinced and Kurumi flat thought I was lying by the look on her face. "I know sounds ridiculous right? But it's true. It's how the three of us are here in the first place. I think this Tet kid wants a rematch against them." I continue to explain.

"Hold on a minute, something keeps bugging me. Why do you keep saying things like "the world you live in" and "Your god"? The God Tet is everyone's God." Kurumi reasons.

"Isn't it obvious? It's the reason that no one has heard of Sora and Shiro before now and why I, a young human, know things like combat in a world where fighting is forbidden. We are from another world, heck I'm only here because I look after those two. But now it seems my role, as caretaker, is almost all but a thing of the past, even if they deny the fact it's quite apparent to me now. I have to find something to do from now on." I pause for a moment. "So Miss Fi, what will you do now that your goal to claim humanity for the elves has fallen flat? Do you intend to go home or will you go elsewhere?"

Fi is taken back by my sudden inquiry. "Why would a human, like you, care what I do?"

"Humor me."

She crosses her arms. "Well first I want to take Kurumi back. After that is not something that you need to know."

"Fair enough, but how about a trade?" I hold out my hand and point at two staircases behind Fi: one goes up the other down. "If you tell me just the first thing after you take Kurumi back, I'll give Kurumi a nice room to sleep in tonight while she serves under house arrest, refuse and she'll get a cold, damp and wet dungeon. How's that sound?"

Fi is yet again angry, I'm certain that in a world were violence was allowed I'd be dead 5 times over, but knowing otherwise gives me the edge I need for this. "There's no way I can tell you something like that."

"Hmm… Ok, DOWN we go Miss Kurumi." Walking her by Fi I head towards the stairs that head down. Kurumi appears to have accepted the light sentence, but...

"Wait!" Fi shouts. "I'll tell you but only if you promise not to tell 'those two' anything."

I turn my head slightly. "Depends if the info will truly impede you or not. I'll determine that once you tell me." All those times I tried out the debate team really payed off. I hold back a grin keeping my pokerface.

Fi take s a deep breath. "After taking back Kurumi, my instructions were, should we fail in winning the king's tournament we were to monitor the new king and determine a weak point to exploit."

I scanned her face to see any lying ticks. "Hmm… Say Miss Kurumi, do you prefer which direction your balcony faces?"

Kurumi blushes having never been asked that before. "I-I don't really mind, either way is fine."

"How about north then?" I lead her up stairs, Fi sighs in relief. "Stephani please do come with me."

Fi gasps in shock, she clearly had forgotten that Stephani was with me the whole time.

I decide to give a gesture of good faith. "Don't tell Sora or Shiro what you've witnessed here. And don't challenge them to any games, they'll only try and use that against you. Oh, I do hope our paths cross again Miss Fi, there are a plethora of things I'd like to ask you about the elves." I glance back at Stephani who now has a pouty face. "Platonically speaking, of course." I smile as the three of us are finally out of physical sight from Fi. Upon reaching the room I lead Kurumi in and see myself to the door. "Enjoy you night Miss Kurumi, I'll have the staff bring you dinner later tonight. Then I'll come to retrieve you in the morning." I close the doors behind me and lock them from the outside.

Turning to Stephani. "Let's go get some dinner." Offering her my hand.

She blushes, taking the hand I offered. "R-right."

* * *

 _-Near the kitchen-_

Stephani and I stroll toward the kitchen, but not a single word was spoken between us. _'This is so weird, it's just the two of us yet neither of us want to start the conversation. Is this my fault?'_ We periodically exchange glances only to quickly turn away when our eye meet. _'I have to say something.'_ "So-"

"Um-" We had decided to say something at the same time breaking the awkward silence. We chuckled and Stephani speaks up. " You first."

"No no, you've been through a lot these last few days. By all means, you first." I insist.

"Oh, uh ok…" She paused looking down and even stopped walking, blushing hard. Whatever she wants to say is making her redder than I've ever seen her so far. It takes a few minutes, but she finally manages to say... "Well, um, I don't want to be rude by asking this."

"It's ok, ask me anything you want, I will answer you to the best of my abilities." She lifts her head and I smile to assure her that it is ok.

"Ok, well, you told me that you didn't want me to fall in love with Sora because of the rules. Why is it you were interested in me in the first place? I'm nothing special, I couldn't even win one game against anyone." She fidgets a lot while speaking trying to use some of the extra adrenaline that she was creating asking such a question.

I can feel my face heat up I knew I was blushing, thinking of how to answer the question. "That's just it though, no matter how many times you lose you never give up on yourself and strive to win the next time. If you've noticed I kinda go out of my way not to play any games myself, no matter what it was I'd always be on the losing team, it's probably why Sora let Kurumi use me that time. I only seem reliable but in truth I can't compete with someone like that, I'd be far to nervous. In my world, at school I avoided joining team sports because I knew I'd mess things up for them. As for you, I won't care if you lose every game you play for the rest of your life, my feelings of admiration will never subside. That's why I didn't want you to fall for Sora, watching you play against Kurumi then against Sora… I just couldn't bare the thought of you being forced to fall for someone who would only use you for his own personal gains. You deserve better than that." I place my hand on her lowered head. "So just keep being yourself, and never give up hope. Alright?"

She remains silent for a while, a silence that makes me question if I said something wrong. I could tell one thing though. She was definitely crying right then.

* * *

 ** _Hold on I need to go vomit rainbows. That was sickeningly over the top, I've never written something so sappy before. But it just felt right for the moment. TERRIBLY SORRY for the long overdue chapter. School, work, life, relationships have all gotten in the way as of late, I will try my best to at least get to chapter 7 by the end of the year, but knowing my life I'll be lucky to get you guys to 6. Chapter 5 will involve the coronation and Jibril so hope you'll all enjoy it when the time comes. Not sure if I'll have Tatsuya participate in Jibril game or just run around protecting Stephani. As always don't forget to comment/correct/rant and follow for more content. Until next time Shi-oon Yi signing off._**


	6. Chapter 5: The King's Speech Man

**_Chapter 5: With all the king's Man_**

* * *

It's been a full week since I told Stephani my reason for wanting her to fall for me instead of Sora and she has avoided making eye contact with me the entire time. I knew I messed up she probably hates me now the only reason she's sticking around now has to be that she is obligated by the rules of this insane world and that she has no where left to go. To top it all off, it appears that there can only be one ruler so for the past seven days Sora and Shiro have been competing against each other in what feels like thousands of different games in order to see who will be the ruler and who will be the sibling. I had more important things to attend to, like not being cooped up in that room for days on end. I made sure the castle staff kept them all fed and every night I'd show up to force the two of them to put the games on hold and wash up and get some sleep. Even those two knew better than to question me on that front.

What 'important things' could I be referring to? Well I kept true to my word and released Kurami to Miss Fil after that night and in doing so set up a line of communication with the agreement that we both disavow anything that we find out, whether it be true or not, and that she will not attempt to use any magic in our meetings to alter my memories and such. We met twice in that week and it that time I learned that Miss Fil is a senator for the elven nation, the elves do practice slavery and that despite her rather young appearance she is actually over 50 years old, further revealing that elven lifespans are far more superior to humans, she said some can live for over a thousand years. Though I suppose that isn't the most interesting thing that I learned from her. I cannot check the viability of her words but she stated at the end of our second meeting that she cared not if her home country was destroyed if it meant she could protect Kurami. Odd thing is, the only things she asked me about was why I knew how to fight as I did. Citing the out law of fighting between the sentient races. I had nothing to hide so I told her the truth, though I wasn't sure she fully believed my words.

She slammed her hands down on the table between us. "You're saying that, the one true god, Tet reached into your world and plucked you and those sibling out of there, bringing you three here? Why?"

I held up my hands in front of my face to try and calm her down a little. "Easy, easy. The reason is something that I'm not sure about, but I do know that I was an unintended addition. I told this to Stephani earlier but I'm kind of an unwanted tagalong. But I think he didn't send me back because those two need me. Or at least they did. Now I'm not to sure. This world is far more up their alley that our old one. the only thing that could stop them at all is themselves. They can and will always win any game they are challenged to regardless of the preparation time. That's just how they are." There is a brief silence. Time was running low on the meeting time, just then a question comes to mind. "I have one more question before we finish for today. Why are there huge Chess pieces scattered on the horizon?"

She looked at me with eyes that definitely thought I was dumb for asking. "Those signify the races that hold sentience and the ability to play the games. Each race has it's own race piece that is with the true leader that race keeps with them."

"Why are they chess pieces though?"

"They-" The question alone seemed to stump her. Had no one ever really thought of it and just accepted that _"Hey they represent us."_ To the point that no one thought to them selves there's a reason for them to be shaped as they are. If I managed to notice, I'm sure Sora and Shiro already came to the very same conclusion long before I did.

Standing up, I bow and proceed to see myself out. "If you find an answer I'd like to hear it sometime." I leave Miss Fil and exit the cottage where we met only to find that Stephani had followed me this time. "Steph, what are you doing here?"

"…" She muttered under her breath I couldn't make out what she said but I did notice the tears in her eyes.

"What's the matter." I got closer but she only ran away. Chasing after her she is surprisingly quick it took nearly kilometer to catch her finally. "Steph what's wrong."

She pushed me away. "NO! You're a stupid cheater!"

I couldn't help but feel taken aback by this accusation. "Cheater? No I'm not." I keep hold of her to not let her start running again.

"Then why do you sneak off to meet that elf trying to make another girl fall for?" She gave the impression that she was heart broken, I need to say the right thing here otherwise it will only get worse and if I say nothing that would be worst of all. "No, I would never cheat on you. I swear on my honor. I have to keep it secret from Sora and Shiro, that was the agreement between Miss Fil and I so that I could learn how the elven race works, there is nothing between us I swear to you and to Tet. I only have feelings for you." I felt like I was in one of those romance dramas like "the Notepad" or "P.S. I hate you", my words almost made me cringe but I had to say them, for Stephani.

She sniffed pulling back her tears letting out a deep blush. "Only for me?"

"Of course. That won't change." I smiled to her. "I hope I can get you to say the same someday."

"Idiot." She comments putting her forehead against my chest, hiding her face. "So unfair…"

Instead of saying anything I hold her in my arms. _Later I'm told by Fil that she saw the whole exchange and it moved her to tears, saying it was like she was reading one of those human novels, much to my embarrassment._

* * *

A little over an hour later Stephani and I arrive at the castle where low and behold Sora and Shiro are still butting heads. "For the love of- cant they just rule as a single entity? You played as **'Blank'** after all." I remark tired of this going on for so long. Everyone else was sick of it as well, including those two. All it took was someone to sat those words and they jumped at the bit. Within the next day they sent out notices to all the citizens that the coronation was finished and that the new rulers will give an introductory speech when the race piece is bestowed to them.

The preparations took another two days and the night before Sora calls for me. After entering the main hall where I find Sora and Shiro sharing the throne in what can only be described as their patented "We play together" style. "What's up Sora? I'd figure you'd be thinking up a speech for tomorrow."

He quickly follows up. "I already have one planned out but I want to ask you two things before then."

Standing at the base of the stairs leading to the throne. I felt the stares of the staff and nobles in attendance that were amazed that I, a commoner, would treat their new king as if he was just any other person. "Alright Sora, you have my attention."

"First things first, as there is no military or guards to speak of, I can't ask you to become something cool like a guard Captain or a general. But what you can do is become the face of Imanity, will you become our foreign ambassador?"

"WHAT!" The hall is in a uproar. "This child? Become an ambassador? preposterous! No Nation will take us serious."

"Be silent." Shiro's quiet voice completely overtook the hall, and it fell silent almost immediately. I couldn't help but be impressed by the authority she commanded.

Sora broke the silence. "This man Kobe Tatsuya is far more integral to my grand scheme than any one of you fools. It's not like the other races took us seriously to begin with. As for you lot, if any of you feel my decision is wrong feel free to challenge me to a game for the position." Sora paused to allow any objectors to raise up complaints. Not a single one uttered a sound. Again I was impressed, I knew he was good at mind games but he completely overwhelmed them with nothing but his authoritative manner of speaking.

"Second?" I said breaking the silence this time.

Sora looked back to me seeming to have forgotten that he had a second question. "Hmm? Oh right. The second thing was-"

* * *

 _-The following day-_

The whole of the county of Elkia or at least what seemed like it, was gathered in the city to hear to first address their new sovereigns would give. Of course once Sora saw the vast amount of people he'd be speaking to he understandably lost his composure. Which is why he asked me to announce him as well as introduce myself to the nation. It seemed unnecessary at the time but Sora assured me there was a reason for my introducing myself to the country. So… "Friends, Countryman and women, esteemed guests! Thank you all for coming such a long way for today the day we reveal to the world Imanities greatest hope! My name is Kobe Tatsuya and I am this nations new Ambassador and I would like to introduce all of you to the new King and Queen of Elkia! I now present to you all King Sora and Queen Shiro!"

The crowd remained silent, in anticipation, with rumors circulating that they defeated someone using magic they couldn't help but feel hopeful. But Sora… he couldn't help himself, he got all tense and could open properly. "G-Good Evening!" It was barely after midday. His speech was grainy and high pitched compared to usual. Then in order to calm him down Shiro took hold of his hand and smiled. In kind I placed a hand on his opposite shoulder. Looking to both of us he took a deep breath and came out swinging. Using his most authoritative voice he address the people of Elkia:

 _"Imanity...since the beginning of the Ten oaths, has had continuous failures due to the predicament of not having war, and we are now left with our last city & country. Why has this happened?! Was it because the previous king failed? Or was it because we are ranked 16th of all the exceeds? Or was it because we are unable to wield magic? Or was it because we are the most inferior race? Does this mean we are fated to walk the path of our destruction?!—sorry but all of those answers are wrong!...Is it then because our race is violent?! Or is it because we specialize in war!?...No! The reason why we were able to fight and survive is because we are weak!_

 _Because of our weakness, we trained our eyes, ears and the ability to think. Learning how to survive, that's our trait as humans! The human species can't use magic and can't even perceive it—but because we are weak, we have the wisdom to run away from magic and the intelligence to see through it! We are Weak! We don't have any extraordinary senses. But because we are weak, by learning and gaining experience, we gained the wisdom to achieve the unachievable—to predict the future… I repeat. We and Weak! Rejoice because we are humans; we are the most talented people! Precisely because we were born without any ability, we can achieve anything. The ten oaths took away our enemies fangs so with nothing left they have been forced to learn our greatest weapon against them. But do not forget. It is and has always been OUR WEAPON to use to it's greatest ability none could hope to match our might. This is the will of the weakest race! From this moment forward we declare war on the entire world, They, who laugh at an mocked us will instead either join us of fall to us, this will be the triumph of the weakest race!"_

As Sora gives this speech a glowing chess piece appears before him he takes hold of it and slams it on the balcony.

 _"_ _This I swear to you, my citizens, I Sora King of Elkia, along with Shiro your Queen, will conquer all 15 other races until we are to able to play on the greatest stage of all!"_

It was quite the spectacle the crowd was in a uproar cheering to the words of their new king. However the reality was far more boring than any of them could have guessed.

Even I couldn't help but clap at his words, as loud and verbose as they were he clearly had intentions behind his words. Likely baiting out all the other races that were watching. I steal a glance at Stephani standing beside me, she was shivering in fear.

That night she gave Sora and Shiro a stern talking to. I didn't stick around that as I was preparing everyones meals letting the kitchen staff take a well earned break with Sora and Shiro eating habits. From what the head chef tells me the maids use the bath when they are permitted, and with Sora effectively making me some figure of authority, to a degree, I was able to allow them the luxury. It was the least I could do.

* * *

Over the course of the next week I visited with Fil once more, with Stephani's knowledge and approval. We spoke mostly on Sora's speech and what his intentions were. Despite how panicked and protective of miss Kurami she was rather level headed other than that. I in turn asked Fil if she had an answer for the question I had asked last time. She speculated that it meant that all the races had the capability to take each other out with they play the right moves. It still didn't feel right so I offered up my thoughts on the matter. "In chess there's 16 pieces on each side correct? And the god of this place is Tet the god of games. What f her wants to play a game with all of the races against him? In one giant game of chess?" I wasn't sure why but I felt that that was at the very least plausible for a god of games. That was where the two of us parted ways for the day. On the way back to the castle for some reason, I felt like I was being watched, but who would be watching me right now? Stephanie? No, she knew where I was. Not to mention she was keeping an eye on those two for me and speaking of those two siblings they were held up in the library, old habit die hard I suppose. Some other race maybe? I decide to try and give them the slip by winding through the streets and hiding. Eventually I felt the gaze leave and after feeling secure I read to the castle where Stephani was mad at me for being later than I said I'd be.

By the end of the week Shiro had managed to somehow run out of books to read on the history of this world. During that same time I was trying to learn about these 15 other races: mermaids, dwarves, fairies, angels there were so many I had a hard time keeping up with Stephani's lessons. Just as Stephani was about to get to the exceed 1, something she called Old Deus Sora comes bursting in. "Tatsuya help me! Shiro's out of books! We need to find more!"

Stephani immediately showed her shock. "What all out? But that library is the biggest one in the kingdom."

"Steph, is there any other place that we can get our hands on books? The history Shiro has gotten is rather incomplete we need to know more if we are to defeat the other races." Sora dead serious for once, I was glad he finally decided to take something so seriously, even if it was just hold himself and Shiro up in a room reading, at least in this case they'd eventually come out.

"Well there is another library but we cannot access it because it no longer belongs to Imanity. My grandfather lost in in a game to a flugel before I was even born." She explained to him.

"Flugel were those angel things you described earlier right? They're number 7 right?" I asked trying to use what Steph had spent the last week teaching me.

"They're number 6 darling-" She quickly put her hand over her mouth to stop herself from talking but it was too late.

I didn't even have to see Sora's face behind her to know that he was giving a evil smile. "Darling eh? When did you too get so close? Tell me, have you done it?"

"What? What are you talking about? we don't have that kind of relati-" I decided to intervene pulling Stephani back to me to hide her flustered face from Sora.

"That's enough Sora, if you want to go to this library fine, but please don't torment Stephani." I had to hold my ground against Sora for Stephani's own good. At the moment I could swear I felt her heart beat pick up the longer I held her close. "To answer your question Sora, no. I would never force her to do anything like that." As I spoke she gripped my shirt tighter than before.

"Eh? She's already in love with you. You wouldn't be forcing her to do anything." Sora being himself can't help but prod further.

"You know better than anyone that's not the case… at least legitimately yet." Then I point to the door. "We'll leave in 30 minutes go and collect Shiro… did you leave Shiro alone?"

*Snap*

Just then I see a flash from behind Sora's arm. "Tatsu-nii nice pose." Shiro had been hiding in wait for something like that to happen giving a thumbs with me holding Stephani close against my chest, face all serious, pointing away in an accusatory fashion and Shiro's ability to get just the right angle I probably look like some kind of heroic character from the video games they always played.

All I can do is sigh. "Will you too just give us ten minutes to get ready to leave?"

"Yeah, yeah. you two can get your alone time." Sora escorts Shiro out but the door doesn't close all the way.

"All the way Sora." I knew them too well, they wanted to spy further. Then the door closes completely.

Just then I let out a sigh of relief. "I'm sorry about him Steph, he's a handful but from now on I'll be keeping him on a tight lea-" I felt myself get pulled down, into something that I didn't expect…

* * *

 ** _I'm sure all of you reading know where that's going… I know this one is very dialogue heavy but there's set up chapters for a reason. I decided to dedicate chapter 6 to the encounter with Jibril. I'm not going to promise anything right now but in two week time, basically when summer begins, if I don't update; kick me in the pants and demand I get off my ass. As always I welcome critiques and comments. Tell me if theres some grammar mistakes, continuity errors, plot holes, anything really. If you find it please let me know. As this all probably makes sense in my head. You can ask for spoilers but I'll be cryptic. Until next time._**

 ** _This is Shi-oon Yi signing off._**


	7. Chapter 6: When an angel takes flight

**_Chapter 6: When an angel fights_**

This? This sensation… Just a moment ago I was talking with Stephani about keeping Sora in line, something I had already done over a hundred time since we've arrived in this world. But for this to happen so suddenly. No, it must be miss Fil teasing me, if so I won't complain. I found myself in a fairy tale. Stephani has pulled me down and kissed me without warning. If it were anyone else I would have pulled away but in this instance Steph pulled away first. "This, this isn't what you think. I- I- I just wanted to say thank you for always saving me from King Sora. This doesn't mean I've fallen for you for real-" She tailed off at the end of her proclamation.

I can't help but back her against a wall. "Stop it."

"Wha- What?" She gets bashful, tilting her head down covering her eyes trying to hide her expression from me. She so cute when she gets like this. I feel like can't control myself when she does, I lift her by the chin.

"That's so not fair Steph. Using cliches on me is completely unfair." Enacting my revenge kissing her myself this time. Nothing over the top, just a peck. "Doesn't mean I haven't." Her face is so red that I thought for a moment that she might have somehow had all her blood rush to her face at once. Pretty sure she needs a moment to… Process what just happened. I poke her forehead and go on ahead. "Do try to hurry, Sora will punish us both if we hold him and Shiro up too long.

If only I knew, at the time, how right I was when I said that. Sora, you really are one crazy bastard sometimes.

* * *

Eventually we managed to make it to what used to be the "former" grand library of Imaniuty but now it belongs to this other being, a flugel that managed to defeat her grandfather for ownership of the library. I'm honestly more interested how this flugel managed to persuade the king to play the game. He probably had nothing to gain from her. I wonder what would have happen if the king had won the game. Guess that the canyon under the bridge at this point since simple water seems to not do the irrelevance of the thought justice. But I digress, when we entered the library, and I must say it is quite grand. I'm not sure if it is common practice here to have things floating around the structures but there's bits of the structure and many books floating around. "Ara, what brings these pesky little humans into MY library?"

A woman's voice rang through the library but if was hard to pinpoint the source, at least until I felt the magic cast to make her voice louder. She was right above us and sitting in a, what can only be described as, a makeshift throne of books. 'She looking down on us, in more ways than one.' I simply pat Sora on the back. "Have at it slugger." Oh how I regretted those words later. Damn you Sora.

Barely keeping up with their conversation what started as simple negotiations quickly took a turn. The two of them somehow start talking about erogenous zones and requesting permission to touch them to check for something that I'm, to this day, not really clear on what exactly the Flugel was checking for. I can't deny though, that the disappointed look on Sora's face after finding out what her erogenous zone actually was almost made what came next worth the trouble… Almost. After what I described to Shiro as, "Sora being a pervert," negotiatons seemed to be going smoothly. They decided on the game. I was actually a fan of the game too. Where you must use the last sound of the previously used world to start your word. But for some reason they didn't start right away. Instead Sora got Stephani and myself to be in the game, not participating but from what I could tell he still wasn't fully comfortable without both Shiro and I around to knock some sense into him. As for Steph, I could only imagine what he had in that damn head of his. Sora started the game with a literal bang.

"All right then, how about I start things off thens, 'Hydrogen Bomb.'"

The next thing I know a freaking nuclear warhead appeared above us and in a matter of seconds that explosion blinded the room. I tried to shield Steph from the blast knowing full well that it wouldn't help as a nuclear explosion this close would vaporize all of us before we could even feel it. We were lucky however, the Flugel had a magic barrier in place and the game itself seemed to take place in a pocket dimension of sorts so that nothing would happen to the real world should Sora decide to drop another nuke on our heads.

After the initial demonstration, the game became rather normal. Words like ice cream, cowboy hat and beach were used, not in that order of course. Do to the magic at play all of these things when mentioned appear or disappear which was quite interesting. Like for "Beach" we suddenly found the table and us on a picturesque beach… and then "The REAL" Sora came to play. Working in clothing words and the Flugel played right along, but at least she added stuff to make things more, let's go with, "decent" even though that definitely wasn't the intent.

As all of this happens I try my best to keep Stephani safe from the abomination that I want to say Sora made, but I was too preoccupied with the damn thing to remember who exactly said it. "Damn it Sora, just win already or I'm gonna hit you so hard that you'll forget that I even hit you in the first place!" I've threats like this before, never really meaning it, of course but just to whip him into shape. Though this time he actually paused from my words.

Sora turned in his chair to me, at this point I was up a tree, Stephani in my arms, attempting to protect her from the creature. "You know what Tatsuya? That's actually a better idea than what I was going to do anyway, a lot cleaner too."

It's not often that Sora threw compliments at me. But at the time I was not at all aware what he was talking about, so I just tentatively nodded my head.

The game continued on, for what felt like hours. Luckily Sora got rid of that damn monster that was chasing Stephani and me. Giving the two of us room to breath and relax on the beach we were still on. But suddenly the game ended and we were back in the Library's basement.

"Huh? What just happened? Who won?" Stephani asked unsure what happened.

"I don't know." Sora professed, shrugging his shoulders.

Turned out no one could remember what happened at the end of the game. It was then that I approach the Flugel. "Hey, what happened? Who won?"

She sighed, as if saying, 'I don't even know myself.'

"Wait. so no one here knows who won? How is that possible?" Stephani followed up with.

At that moment Sora places a hand around my shoulder. "This guy is the reason that none of us know the outcome."

"What? How is it my fault? I wasn't even playing your game." I brush Sora off my shoulder. "Is there no way to find out who won?"

Just then Shiro held up her phone. "Hai." She said simply.

"Shiro? Did you record it?" I asked as I picked her up.

"Mmhmm." She nods with a big smile on her face as she showed all of us the video. Curious to the outcome as well Sora, Stephani and the Flugel all pushed against me. Sora and Stephani on either side and the Flugel hovered to look over my head. I felt something soft against my back but I refused to react… But man was it soft.

* * *

- _In the video-_

"Are you recording Shiro?" Sora's voice asked. As Shiro was sitting in his lap we could only see the Flugel across the table, smiling, enjoying the challenge that Sora brought her.

"What is your next word human?"

"I can imagine the smile Sora probably made as he said the words "Short-term memory."

The Flugel's expression then changed. "Excuse me, but who are you human? And why are we on a beach?" She couldn't remember what they were doing.

"I'm not sure but I'm not really complaining with the view from here." Sora's voice rang.

She looked down. "Eh? Since when have I been naked?" She raised her hand to try and conjure up some clothing nothing happened. "Ara?" She tried again and again nothing happened.

It was at this point the video ended as Shiro likely forgot what she was doing.

* * *

 _-Back with us-_

"So basically because she couldn't remember what she was doing she couldn't say a follow up word and lost by default from the time rule?" Stephani asked.

"Bwahaha!" Sora laughed.

"What this can't be, are you telling me I lost because I forgot what I was doing?" The flugel was enraged at the results.

"That appears to be the case." I tried to ease the tension, even I was in disbelief at the outcome of the game.

"To be beaten by a lowly human… How could you have known that the effects would be so immediate?" She tried to see if Sora was just lucky or that he knew completely what he was doing.

Sora simply grinned and said to the Flugel, "You should never underestimate an opponent. No matter how weak you think them to be, I fought you with this in mind, you were cocky you'd take your time to add new phrases even if you had a word or phrase right away you'd just hold off on saying it and 'toy around with your food' it was a gamble as you could see but I had faith in the idea that my friend gave me."

His words made me wonder, I placed a hand on his shoulder. "Sora, what was your original plan?"

To which he just grinned and said, "Does it even matter? We won thanks to the idea you helped me think of."

He was right to an extent, looking back, my threat was rather specific at the time, not to mention the idea had crossed my mind, but not once did I come to think that it would be able to win a game like that. But I wasn't about to let go of the genius' compliment towards me, so instead of arguing back with anything I just rubbed the back of my head. "I didn't really do anything."

It was at this moment that Sora addressed the Flugel, "Now then I do believe your stake was 'everything you own,' which means that this library and you now belong to m- Us." He managed to catch himself but his little slip didn't get passed me at least. By this point Shiro was tired and decided to take a little cat nap in my arms so she seemed to miss that little lapse in wording of his, lucky for him too, she would not have liked it at all.

Despite not liking that she lost she couldn't fight the rules of this world.

"Oh and don't worry I still share to books from another world with you." Sora assured her, which got her very excited.

She kneeled down to the three of us, well I assume Sora and Shiro but I was carrying her so by extension I got included. "I Jibril, pledge my loyalty to the King and Queen of Imanity, I shall follow their every command without hesitation. I would also like to see the full extension of the strength you all hold."

I realized something from her pledge. "Now that I think about it, you never once gave your name to us-"

"Of course. Why would I give my name to lowly humans that once beaten would never come back here again?" She stated bluntly.

I couldn't say much to that. "I'm sure I would have done something similar were I in your position." In fact I acknowledged her statement as something that a warrior would have as a principle.

"Ok Tatsuya, that's enough flirting, we need to start researching this world further. From all the Exceeds to all the records kept on the history of each." Sora takes Shiro from me and instructs Jibril to guide him around. "Take the rest of the day off Tatsuya." He called out before disappearing into the far reaches of the library.

I took his advice and asked Stephani if she knew of any places that we could go to relax after such a long day. To which she smiled took me by the hand and said, "Follow me."

* * *

An hour later I found myself standing in front of a large building. "What is this place Stephani?"

She smiled warmly at me opened the doors and said, "The best place to relax on the entire continent. One of the only places no king of Imanity has ever put up as condition for losing of winning. A place that all Exceeds are welcome to come to, with no fear of being discriminated against. The hot spring resort that has been in the care of the kingdom since its inception. Konansou."

I could only imagine how exceptional this place must be if the kings of the past never used it as a bargaining chip before. My second thought was, 'I wonder if Sora knows about this place and is just scared to come here as he's still not good at crowds, or maybe he just prefers the royal baths-' The thought occurred to me that Sora just got a busty angel girl under his wing now, so to speak. "Oh no,"

Stephani clearly saw the change in my demeanor and became concerned. "What is wrong Dar- Tatsuya?"

"Sora, that Sora now has that Flugel, Jibril I think, under his beck and call. You don't think he'd do anything unsavory?" I decided to tell her up front instead of hiding my thoughts, probably not the best idea as she gave me a rather disappointed mug.

"Are you really concerned with him even with us being in a place like this?" She took me by the arm and pulled me inside. "Forget about his highness for now, you've been working hard by his side all this time, make tonight about you. For me?"

Her words struck a cord with me. Sora and Shiro are well off enough on their own and now with the addition of Jibril they have increased their influence by a great amount as having complete loyalty of a 6th Exceed. I give a deep exhale. "You know what Stephani, you're right. Tonight-" I stole a kiss from her. "-Will be for me and for you."

That night I forgot all about Sora and Shiro for the first time since their parents gave them that apartment to live on their own. All I could think about was my future and what it would hold.

* * *

 ** _I apologize to all my readers for the lack of updating like I had promised. As many of you might be able to attest the writing process can be tricky. I must have rewritten the game with Jibril over 20 times trying to get it to a point where it was different enough that I liked how it turned out. I thought about going into great detail even writing down every word said. But the focus isn't on Sora's perspective so I figured it would be a bit of overkill. I thought about having Tatsuya say the word himself, but ultimately I decided to have Sora be inspired by Tatsuya midway. Note: the super detailed version was nearly 5 thousand words as I wrote down the dialogue between Sora and Jibril as Tatsuya was watching the whole time. Had everything been solely up to that I would have finished some 2 months ago, but I was working on a language degree, then I met someone who I devoted much of my time too. For now school is not on my schedule so I will try to get the next chapter up soon to make up for the delay. Thank you to everyone who has supported this story thus far. _**

**_As of this chapter I will be diverging from the story of Sora and Shiro more and more. Tatsuya has made a decision for his life. For the decision I hope you will return next chapter to find out just what he has decided_.**

 **As always please feel free to comment, review, correct, rant, rave anything that fits your fancy. I welcome all criticism. I acknowledge that I am not perfect and strive to get better.**


	8. Chapter 7: It's your turn

**Chapter 7: It's time to play.**

Somehow it's been two months since the three of us came to this world. Sora and Shiro, became king and queen of the human country. Using their new power they proceeded to make me their foreign ambassador, rather I became their 'Talk to this guy cause we don't want to,' guy. But I wasn't all that upset, they actually used their knowledge to improve the human society here, crop rotations, new ways to handle currency, introduction of new technologies and even more effective irrigation methods. I was really proud of them. I often watched them working from a far the only time we'd spend together is when I'd bug them to go to bed and get sleep for the next day. Stephani even settled in to her role as their caretaker in my absence. Jibril however loved to tease Stephani and I, while she deeply respected Sora and Shiro for besting her, she treated us more as children who can't think for ourselves. Though her favorite target is definitely Sheph, she always would get so worked up from Jibril's taunting.

I kept up my communication with Fil as promised, seems the Elven nation to the East is weary having heard rumor that Sora has a Flugel at his beck and call. I'll leave it be for now as they are not trying to go on the offensive just yet.

"So what is King Sora's next target mister Tatsuya?"

Fil occasionally asked me this, though I think it's not that she's worried that he'll turn his sights on the Elves but that she's become curious what this other-worlder intended to do now.

At this stage I could only guess myself, Sora seemed to focus on building up Imanity as a whole before making his next move.

"You know I can't say 100 percent but I think he's not even sure himself."

That was the best answer I could give her at the time, as Sora had actually seemed to distance himself from me after the events with Jibril over a month ago. He stopped telling me about his grand designs. I had thought for a while that he may have found out about my secret meetings with Fil.

Yet again we finished our meeting with little information actually swapped and was more just our habit to meet with each other, chat for a bit, engage in small talk, occasionally joke around at our leaders' expenses, and we've even sat in awkward silence once or twice before.

"I'll be off first Miss Fil. Say 'Hello' to Miss Kurumi for me."

"Of course Mister Tatsuya." She saw me off same as usual.

I walked along the road back toward the city when I noticed something abnormal. The surrounding area became distorted and the colors inverted. I felt the presence of something, something familiar.

"What do I owe the honor of your visit? The one true god, Tet."

I turned around toward the presence and the child-sized god stood before me looking into my eyes.

He stared at me for a bit before speaking. "Why don't you ever play games?" He seemed annoyed.

I was surprised. Tet decided to come himself to ask me this. "You know, I'm not really that good at games, so I'm not really in the mood to ever engage in a game."

Tet began to rise into the air to be at eye level with me. "You're weird, why don't you play them to get good at them?" He laughed at my expense.

My pride would be hurt if I hadn't come to the conclusion that I can't get better.

"Come on, there must be some sort of game that you're good at." Tet pressed.

I placed my hand on my chin thinking. "Hmm, I think I liked military strategy games. They were never in-depth or anything, but I enjoyed them. I was never as good as Sora and Shiro." It was the only thing that I could give either of them a challenge in back in our world. Not that I would ever beat them, but the games would last longer than 10 minutes at least. Though mostly in part because it takes a little bit of time to built up our forces.

"Then how about a game between you and I? Let me see if you really are as bad as you say." He seemed like a child that thought he was being clever.

It was curious, he'd not shown himself in all the time since we'd arrived, well except for the time he apparently appeared before Sora and Shiro, Stephani told me that she saw the tail-end of it. "Why come to me with this all of a sudden?" It seemed a legitimate question to me.

He pouted since I didn't accept right away. "Because the only game you played was boring and had no stake in it."

"Game? when did I play a ga-"

Suddenly I had a toddler glaring at me. "With that former princess, Dola-chan."

"Oh, you mean that cooking contest?" I recalled the event that he was referring to. "That wasn't meant to have stakes. I don't want anything from Stephani." Something dawned on me when I mention Stephani to him so I decided to then ask him something that I probably shouldn't have. "What did you talk about with Sora and Shiro?"

He raised a brow. " Oh so they told you about that did they? Wasn't really anything important I just confirmed that they understood the purpose I brought them here to do."

"To unite the race- exceeds and challenge you to a final game." He actually flinched from my response.

"Yes, but I'm surprised you figured it out." I felt insulted from his words. I didn't show the feeling of insult though.

I pointed to my head. "I've learned a lot about this world from Stephani and Miss Fil these last two months, as well as having the perspective of an outsider." I lowered my hand and looked toward the castle. "You've been the one true god for over a millennia hoping someone would finally be able to play you in the ultimate game, but after a while you got tired of waiting. Then with the humans on the brink of falling to the elves and losing their race piece all together you decide to find someone who is so good at games that the only being that could ever beat them is a 'God' of games." Then I turned to face him. "So you challenged them to see if they were up to the task. When they beat you, you brought them here, and by happenstance me."

Now he was floating as if laying on a bed listening to me speak. "Speaking of that, how about we make that the stake of our game?"

"Make what?"

"Your being here, what else? For someone who sounds so smart you aren't to quick in the head are you?" That actually hit me right in my pride.

"What are you proposing?"

He started to float around me. "Well, if you lose then I send you back home."

I crossed my arms. "And why exactly would I accept that?"

"Because the only reason you want to stay is because you want to help Sora and Shiro, but face it already. They don't need you anymore and just the same you no longer have a reason to stay here." I hated to admit that he was right about that at least that they no longer needed me.

"And should I win, what could you give me that would be worth while?" I inquired further.

"What would be worth the same to you?"

I didn't have an answer at all. "I don't know, I can't think of anything that equal my existence in this world. Do we have to do this now? If I am to even consider this I'll need time."

His aura changed slightly. Maybe he was annoyed that I was making him wait or happy since I was actually considering his game. "All right, how much time will you need?"

I hesitated, how could I definitively say the amount of time need to come up with something. "How about a week? I don't know if I'll have an answer by then though. But, maybe if I just had a way to contact you if I come up with an answer before then."

"Oh is that all? Here." He used his power and created a device with a button. "Press this when you come up with something. I be there, quick as a flash." He winked. "Well then, I'll be off." Just as I grabbed the device he was gone and the discoloration was gone.

I took a moment to register what he offered. I have the chance to return to my home. My parents, my family and friends. I wonder what's become of them since we disappeared from that world. They must be worried sick, gone without a trace. Or maybe Tet used his powers to fake our deaths, but given his child-like demeanor and the fact that I wasn't supposed to be here it's likely that he didn't make a plan for me. So my parents are likely beside themselves with worry. Maybe I should find a way to send them a message. My head began hurting. "Argh, I'll think about it later. I'm going to go rest." I started running back to the castle. Wasn't really sure why I was running at the time.

 _-That night-_

I had the kitchen staff bring the siblings their food as always. Having dinner with Stephani to give her a break from the two of them, and to get an update on them. It was this night that Stephani told me something shocking. "His highness Sora has been acting weird lately, I had thought it a coincidence but it has happened multiple times so far. He as well as Her highness Shiro have been making decisions on foreign policy without wanting your input."

That was a strange thing. They made me a foreign ambassador so why wouldn't they ask my opinion? Perhaps they realized that they would be able to do so with their knowledge of psychology and sociology. "Is that so? Well, that's their right as King and Queen, don't think too much on it. My duty is simply to do as they ask is it not?"

"Of- of course." I'm certain that she merely agreed so that things wouldn't get complicated.

I wanted go and check on the siblings, but I didn't know if I should. They're working so hard to get this country moving forward.

So, of course, I found myself outside their door. I gave a loud knock. "Sora. Shiro. I'm coming in."

Entering the room I found Shiro asleep on Sora's lap while he read a book. It was a little dark on the side I stood so I could only guess what he was reading. "Oh? What brings you here Tatsuya?" His tone sounded different from usual.

"Just checking in on you two, you've been rather distant lately is all." It was an honest response but not what I wanted to say. "How goes the politics of being the king?"

"It's so boring. How these people survived with their current level of tech is beyond me." He waved his hand back and forth, his eyes never left the book he was reading. "How goes your secret meetings with the Elf-girl?"

I shudder at his words, he knew. But for how long has he known? "I have no idea what you are referring to Sora. I've been doing my duties as an ambassador. I've met with several of the other exceeds, nothing I've done has been in sec-"

"Now now, no need to lie Mister Tatsuya." Jibril's voice echoed in the room, before she appeared behind a piece of furniture. "I watched from a far, my eyes are very good at seeing great distances after all."

I got a sweat, I didn't know she was already aware that I could feel magic, so she did actions that I couldn't sense. I didn't want them to find out as they might compromise the meetings, but I have no other choice than to come clean. Shrugging my shoulders I decide to lessen the blow. "I don't see the harm in a meeting between friends."

"Any reason you kept the meetings between the two of you from Shiro and I? Seems rather suspicious." Sora closed the book finally his eye surrounded by black circles.

"Sora you've been staying up all night again haven't you? Geez I'm gonna have to whip you back into shape." I disliked that he did that in the old world but he had no responsibilities then so I tended to let it slide.

Sora rubbed his face careful not to wake Shiro. "You realize what this looks like Tatsuya, don't you? The Elves conspired to have their own slave girl take the throne of the human kingdom and take control of the country. Now you, the ambassador of the new King and Queen goes and has secret rendezvous with the same elf-girl that nearly lead to the fall of the human kingdom."

He's right it would look bad to anyone. "Sora, you can't be serious. Are you accusing me of being a traitor?"

"I'd like nothing more than it to be mere idle chat between the two of you, I even let the first couple of times slide as it could have been just that. But as it stands you've met her a total of 25 times in the last 2 months since we've taken power. How could I not be suspicious that they could of even brainwashed you without you noticing?"

I scoffed. "Impossible! You know I can tell when magic is being used. There's no way that she could have done it without me noticing something before hand."

"Not entirely true. There are other ways to control someone that includes herbs, things that even someone like you would have a hard time noticing." Jibril revealed to me.

"Herbs? So I could have been drugged? There must be some way to prove that this is nothing more that conjecture. I wouldn't ever betray y-

Sora's tone was very serious. "I'm sorry Tatsuya, but as you are suspected of treason I will have to ask you to step down and leave the castle, until this is all blown over… If it ever does."

I was rendered silent, my face became downcast. "If- If that is your decision, then…" This hut so much I could hardly bare it. "Goodbye My friend." I bowed. "Tell Shiro I'm sorry, I won't be able to see her for a while." I backed out the room.

I wasn't sure but I thought, for just a moment, I saw Sora mouth something. I was so distraught that I said nothing more. How did things come to this? Sora wouldn't just jump to that on his own, was it Jibril? Tet? I couldn't even think straight. I had left the castle without so much as a word to Stephani. It would hurt too much if I saw her cry because of something like this.

 _-Hours later-_

I wasn't quite sunrise yet but I found myself on the top of the hill that we originally landed on when we arrived here. Even though it had only been two months grass had already started to grow in the crater we created. I sat on the rim of the crater. "What do I do? What can I do to fix this?" I looked of in the distance at the huge King chess piece. "Tet-"

"Yes?" As if he was waiting for me to say his name he popped up, quite literally, behind me.

His sudden appearance startled me, I actually fell into the crater. "Geez, I need to put a bell on you. You nearly gave me a heart attack."

He just grinned. "Aww, you look upset. What happened Mister Tag Along?"

I was distraught I hadn't any clue what to do. I never once thought that Sora would turn on me for something like this. "How? How did things come to this? I've always been on their side and now a simple whim to learn about the other exceeds without the use of text books has lost me my best friend and the little Shiro. I need to fix this."

"Hey."

"I doubt I could even convince him on my own-"

"HEY!" Tet shouted. "I came all this way, and you ignore this one true God. How rude?"

"Why would God even come at a time like this?" In that moment I had an epiphany. "Wait, you are the God so that means you should know nearly everything that transpires in this world right?"

He puffs out his chest. "Well, even if I'm not there myself I can find out the details of everything that happens. It's how I can check on the accusations of cheating that take place." Such a proud child-like god.

"Then you could clear my name, correct? I mean something like this would be trivial right?" There was a glimmer of hope for in my mind.

Instead of a straight "Yes," or a "NO," he just glared at me. "What are you willing to offer for this favor?"

"Offer? You mean that I have to give you something for this? But I have nothing to give you? Nothing I could possibly give the God of this world." I shake my head in defeat. "What would it take?"

Without missing a beat he grinned and said, "Play a game with me. You win, I clear your name. I win, you get sent back to your world."

This was too quick for me to let slide. "You, you set this up didn't you?"

He merely winked.

I had a choice: Play the game against the god of games, where when I lose I leave the two siblings and Stephani too. That or I decline the game and nothing changes, I remain exiled and Sora never trusting me again. It's wasn't even a choice. "Tet."

"Yes Mister?" He was extremely cheeky I hated it.

"What game would we be playing?"

He grinned. "How about we play a military strategy game, the kind you said you fair the best at."

Figures. "All right Tet. I'll play your game, but I want two conditions to added to the win/loss conditions." I held up two fingers holding me ground to a god.

"Oh and what would that be?" His eyebrow raised eager to hear, just so we could start his blasted game.

"First, even when I win I want you to clear my name with Sora and Shiro." It may be dumb to have my name cleared after I get sent home, but I just wanted Sora to know I still was on his side.

"Easy enough." Tet kicked back his feet as if he was in a reclining chair. His smug attitude annoyed me to no end but I had little other option. "What's the second condition?"

"Second-" I hesitated. "-If I should somehow beat you, I also want you to somehow inform my family in the other world that I am alive and well. They deserve to know that I'm ok."

He grinned. "Is that all? Easily done. Are you ready?" He held out a hand to seal the deal.

I reached out. "In the name of the ten pledges, I vow to play fair."

"Of course." Tet grinned.

We grab hands.

"ASHENTE."

 **DUN DUN DUH. This wasn't always my intent but I thought that this was going to be boring if there was absolutely no conflict. But Tatsuya playing against Tet? With that kind of wall, can Tatsuya overcome him like the siblings managed to? Well I hope you'll all join me next time and see what happens. Don't worry, I'm not going to make him some perfect person. That'd be an incredibly boring character. What suddenly happened to Sora? Like I said previously the story is now deviating from the original Anime (The only part I've seen). Until next time guys.**

 ** _As always please leave a comment, critique, rant, or whatever you wish to leave. I accept all criticism. Please, if you enjoy this story so far please follow._**

 **In other news, a lot has happened that has delayed me. A marriage, a death, a transfer and the adjustment to all the changes that have occurred since last time. I thank you all for you patience in this matter.**


	9. Chapter 8: So, it has come to this

**Chapter 8: So, it has come to this**

* * *

"Sir the reports say that the Tet army is putting no effort into patrols all the 100,000 troops are staying within the campsite they've established." A scout told me as I stood in the headquarters.

It was strange, it's been two days since we started this, "game."

* * *

 _-directly after the game started-_

After releasing Tet's hand I looked around expecting something to happen but nothing did. "So, what's the plan here? Turn-based? Real-time" I knew very little about games but I knew that was a term used in strategy games.

Tet smiled floating up into the air. "Hehe, real-time sounds fun," then with the snap of his finger the landscape changed into an open field surrounded by low hills and some mountains blocking the off the edges. Forests were scattered around blocking the immediate field of view.

"What? Where are we?" I exclaimed.

Just before he snapped again Tet replied. "We're on the game board." *Snap* In the next moment we were surrounded by massive armies of human soldiers. "We'll be doing this military game like those old people from your world: swords, bows, spears, and horses. The winner will be decided if one of us has no alternative but to surrender, or if the army we lead is destroyed. We will have three days from this moment to decide how to manage our armies. Then on the morning of the third day, we will begin the game. Have fun until then. I look forward to having fun playing with you." Tet then disappeared.

* * *

 _-present-_

I scoured the map on the table. Hills that can be fortified and defended. A river running from his side to mine, he'll likely use it to get the drop on my men. So I had the army shift the HQ due East and build a defendable fortress on the hill. Having the high ground on the map is imperative to have a good ability to last long enough to get a good feel for the opponent's movements.

49,990 Infantry,

15,000 Calvary,

20,000 Heavy troops

15,000 Archers

10 Officers

These are the troops I was given by Tet. Assuming that Tet was a fair player as the god that created the 10 rules of the world would follow his own ideals, he should have the same numbers across the board.

Something bothered me to no end though. It was not the details of the game itself. Why would he bother giving me this chance? As it stands, I've had little to nothing good to say to this pint-size god with a childish attitude. So why then? What does he stand to gain from sending me back?

"Why are gods so passive?" I thought aloud, the officers that were in the strategy tent with me at the time passed glances back and forth when I spoke, they probably thought that I was crazy.

I was always a student of history and to my shock, Tet wasn't kidding when he said. "we'll do it like those old guys from your world." After talking to the officers I discovered that Tet created an army for me based on the end of the warring states period of China. The officers' names were that of Meng Tian, Wang Ben, Li Xin and many others of the like, though none of them had memories of said events so they were just shells created for the games. It's a real shame, I would have loved to learn what really happened, away from the annals of history and learn it from the horse's mouth as it were. That doesn't mean they didn't have the personality they, just didn't know who they were based on.

Night fell on the second night,"Well men you have your orders. You will get into position before the morning sun rises and then when the sun crest over the mountains we will begin. Best of luck to you all."

They bowed and vacated the tent leaving me to my thoughts.

I must say, commanding 100,000 men is not something I would wish to be placed on someone with no experience in doing so. Tomorrow is the day that marks the beginning of the end for me in this world of games. "Sora… Shiro… I pray you two will get on well without me. Stephani… I'm sorry. I'll have to break that promise I made to you at the hot springs." I raised a cup of water to the Moon that was nearly full.

That night, I couldn't sleep well. I don't know if it was nerves or that I know I'm about to lead so many men in a battle of this degree. Either way, I awoke to find that the men did as I instructed. They were out in formation before the sun rose over the mountains to the East. I had the officer Meng Tian secure the hill as a way to oversee the battle and dictate from above. Then as the sun rose I saw the Tet army approaching from the West. He had done exactly as I thought he would. He tried to sneak behind my lines and strike my flank, instead, all he did was waste resources on building enough boat to ferry about 20,000 men down the river.

"Sir-" A messenger approached but I stopped him as I watched the armies get into position to clash.

"I am about to witness something that no one in this world or my world has seen in centuries." The thought was both heavy and exciting. "Tian, are "those" ready?" I asked the officer that was next to me.

He smiled and spoke in a casual tone. "Of course. Finished and placed yesterday afternoon."

"Good. Now let's let Tet make the first move." A smile came across my face, a smile that I myself don't think I've ever made.

Before long the Tet army began to charge to the hill. The air was so heavy and hard to breathe properly, it nearly felt as though I was being strangled by Shiro. "So this is warfare?"

The armies clashed. The heavy soldiers walled the infantry that Tet sent forth when his heavy soldiers met mine they had a distinct difference. My men were being pushed back too easily.

"S-Sir?" The messenger spoke again.

"Speak!" Tian ordered.

He bowed. "Yes, of course." He then addressed me. "General, The enemy commander, he's not overseeing his troops. He has remained in the main camp to the Northwest."

Did tet stay away? I mean, I can guess why. He's a god of games and fun, who outlawed violence and war, this must bring back memories that he'd rather forget. "Thank you, Bi, I will keep that information in mind, you may take a break for today."

He bowed, "Yes. Thank you General," he then returned to the camp.

"Meng," I spoke to the commander beside me.

"Yes General?" He replied without missing a beat.

"What do you make of the enemy commander not overseeing the battle?" These shells may not have the memories of the people they are based on, but they did have military knowledge.

He was silent for a moment. "I can think of a few possibilities. First, the enemy is very confident in his men and their ability to face the opponent before them. Second, he has no strategic acuity, probably not the case, given the move, he attempted earlier. Third, he's biding his time to create a key move in the days to come. Fourth, he's studying the battlegrounds to see something others cannot. Finally, he's baiting you."

All of those suggestions were well thought of. Though one stood out to me. Was there something that you could only do once you've taken a very long look at the surroundings? "Tian, are there other people near the battleground?"

Tian turned his gaze to the Northwest. "Our scouts found a string of small villages in the forests away from the plains."

"How was this not brought to my attention earlier?" I asked angered by the lack of info.

Tian shook his head. "The men must have figured that it was unimportant information."

"If it's in the field it must be important. Tet wouldn't include them if they were meant to be used." I concluded that Tet was trying to persuade the villages to help him and his forces. At least I thought that until…

"Sir! The enemy they're far stronger than we predicted. They are smashing our front lines and our men are struggling to keep the formation!" A messenger reported one of the many from the many units on the front lines. "Tet, how are your men so strong? It doesn't make sense."

There was only one unit that did not send word of its struggles. That was because one of the units lead by Li Xin overcame the enemies brute strength with his own. It was due to his success that the front lines did not collapse on the first day as he took the attention of the attackers off their assault, creating a balance in the fighting. We took many casualties today, nearly 10,000 were dead or wounded, to their roughly 3,000 in comparison. A bad start was putting it lightly. That night in the command tent The commanders were gathered, many of them were down trotted with the day and had low morale. I had to do something different from today. But what? What would be a way to shift the balance in our favor? "Commander Xin! Why was it that you faired better than your fellow commanders?" I decided that the elephant needed to be addressed first.

He crossed his arms. "Wasn't anything special, I just found a blaze on the battlefield and ignited it."

"A blaze?" What did he mean by blaze?

"Yeah, the enemy just kept pushing forward with no regard for the men in front of them, their commander sent his guard unit forward and so I opened a path and cut him down personally. With the loss of their commanding officer, the unit buckled like a wounded horse. So, I capitalized on the blaze that I saw before me."

"You managed to take out an officer?" I was astounded. He chose to battle as he saw fit and it was a way I could not fathom. He "felt" a blaze and capitalized on it. I still needed to come up with a plan for the following day. "All right men, I have come to a decision. Xin, I'm giving you 70,000 men tomorrow. Start the day similarly to today but I want you to use the men as you see fit. Find a great blaze and keep their focus on you. I will take 15,000 men with me tonight and we will sneak through the enemy formation to the Northwest. If I am not back in 2 days then you are to use the remaining men with you and take create a massive clash and push the enemy back to the riverbank. I shall help you should it come to that. Let's hope it doesn't though." I headed toward the doorway. "Tian, with me."

"Sir." Tian followed after me and using the reports of the scouts gathered, we managed to sneak only 6,000 men behind their formation before the next morning came, the rest returned to camp as reserves for Commander Xin, giving him 79,000 at his current command.

"Tian, can we accomplish our goal with just this many men?" I asked his advice as we came up with this together.

Meng Tian again became quiet. "It is not ideal, but these villages likely won't show us any opposition as they appear to be merely hunters and gatherers. I still question why we should use the villages at all."

As the force waded through the shallow end of the river they begin to hear the beginnings of the clash. "Sounds like Xin really didn't give them time to set up. Wonder how far that will get him…" Tian thought aloud.

I couldn't help wonder myself but the mission I'm undertaking is something that leaves the information network we established, meaning that Xin's forces could be completely destroyed and we'd not know. Luckily when Tet split his army he didn't leave many scouts in the forest. Though he did have some they were stationed just far enough apart to allow small portions of men to sneak through the area, so long as they remained quiet and moved at a constant speed. I didn't like it, but what I was about to do next is not something I wanted to do but it was to give me a chance to win. These villages when brought together had combined roughly 3,000 able-bodied men for combat and 15,000 in terms of total population. I would use them to spring a surprise attack on Tet's right flank performing a pincer attack them and putting the odds in my favor. The more people I could persuade to join me the better chance I had to destroy his flank. This is of course only possible if Tet didn't persuade them himself to begin with. My only hope is to trade knowledge with them.

By midday, we arrived at the first village and I was able to get in, with no hostility, to see the village chief. A tall man, easily towering over me and more than three times my age. "What brings the commander of an army to my village?" He asked skeptically of me, the man who brought 6,000 armed men with me.

I bowed in respect. "Sir I have come requesting the help of your village and all the villages in the forest. Right now, My forces face off with the Tet army, we stand little chance of stopping them as they are inhumanly strong. I am not asking you to fight for me, just to add to the numbers of my men artificially. None of your people will be in harm's way as we only need to demoralize the enemy-"

"Ok."

"- I have little to offer to persuade you to join- come again?" I was dumbfounded he answered so quickly and with little need to negotiate.

He laughed. "Son, I said we'll help you. As the quicker one side leaves the quicker you will all leave our land." He took to the idea very quickly, shockingly so.

"I-I see sir. But what of the other villages? Will they join as easily as you did?" If they didn't just hem won't do a whole lot of good. This gets stranger and stranger by the minute. Why would Tet put something like this in the game that he created if he didn't intend to use them? The thoughts flew through my mind at such a rapid pace I could barely think straight. I was smart to bring along Tian as he kept my mind from wandering too far.

The elder laughed once again. "They are of the same mind son. We may not be one large tribe like you folk but we have a sense of community with our neighbors all the same. I'll send word to the other tribes, we should hear from them by sunrise tomorrow." He assured me.

While this was good news and allowed me a breath of fresh air there were other things that quickly entered my mind. I had instructed Li Xin to minimize casualties so that we could make an effective flank attack on the third day but given what I felt from his method he might take out commander but what of the men following him. From the reports and what I saw he suffered nearly one to one in terms of troops with the unit he fought against, succeeding only to "kill" the leader leading to the collapse of that unit, if he could manage to take out one or two more in the days to come then maybe we'll be in good shape. The second was the thing that has been bugging me since I became aware of the villages here. It makes no sense for Tet to place these here if he didn't intend to use them in the game. I thought on the subject well into the night when I remembered something that Stephani taught me a while back. The first exceeds, the "Old Deus" other the old gods, what if they still had the powers of gods but just not the authority of the "one true god?" Tet is, as far as I could tell, a fair player, he wouldn't do something to give himself an unfair advantage. Maybe he had one of the Old Deus create this stage so that Tet wouldn't have an advantage over me. But this was created when we agreed on the game I thought. That said he is a god, so it's not too much to think that he stopped time went to talk to one then started the game.

"Gah, my head is killing me. I need to think of something else for a moment." I put my head down for a moment to rest. I must have been tired because the next thing I know I'm being woken up by Tian.

"Sir, I think you should come and see this." It was just before Dawn when he came to get me, his face was concerned, which lead me to believe we didn't get much help.

"How many came?" I got up dusted myself off. "Less than we thought?"

He remained silent as he waited for me to head toward the exit of the tent. As I approached he lifted the cover and smiled. "I think you'll be surprised sir."

When I left the tent I was greeted by the sight of nearly 15,000 tribesmen and women all ready to head out. In front of the large crowd were the 30 or so tribe leaders. The elder from last night came to greet me. "Well, son, what did I tell you? They wanted to get you guys out of here as quick as possible."

I laughed along with him this time. "Thank you, really thank you so much, sir. I am indebted to you."

"Think nothing of it." He smiled placing his hand on my shoulder. "The tribe chiefs have each brought 200 capable warriors each, the rest will be in the middle simply to create the appearance of the larger force. You did promise that that was all you were hoping for, to begin with after all."

I couldn't help but bow. "Yes, of course, this is more than enough."

The rest of the day was spent training the tribesmen and woman on what the formation was going to be. I was actually starting to have fun with this game. I got to experience so much from this game, met so many interesting people because I was playing. It actually kind of hurt me to think that these people will no longer exist when the game is over. I had to think of other topics when the thought crossed my mind. Later that night, around midnight I had Tian send scouts to clear a path through the forest so that we get into position for the coming third day.

Finally, on the morning of the third day of the game with all 21,000 people, we marched to the army was not being pushed back like I had hoped. Seems we'll have to meet up with Xin. I could only hope that Xin was able to hold out the last two days to minimize losses. When the hill came into view, close to noon, I saw that he was holding the hill and that Tet's army was attacking in full force. He was likely attempting to finish the game today. We needed to hurry and with myself leading from the front, with the general's glaive I was given and the sword that came with me to this world, we hit Tet's flanking army from behind. I could hear the men of Tet's army panic. "What an army from behind? Where did they come from?" In hindsight, it was probably for the best that there was no communication between Xin and me during the last two day.

This feeling I had, I've never felt it quite like this before. The rush of a plan such as this succeeding against the odds, the flow of a battle of strength, it felt incredible. I couldn't afford to slow down to appreciate the feeling. The commander of the flanking army came into my sights. Just the same I came into his. He was charging at me through his unit making a b-line for me, it makes sense considering if I'm defeated then the game is over. Without taking a moment to stop we readied ourselves for the clash. When we got within the other's range our weapons clashed. Now it would come down to who is better with the weapons in hand. I cannot lie when I say I was at the disadvantage, I never trained with a glaive or any kind of pole-arm to be honest. He had better technique and could use the glaive better than I could. My only saving grace was my mobility and speed, without that, I would have lost three times over by this point.

The two of us were in a commanders duel and as if they were trained to do so the soldiers formed a circle around us no interfering and not attacking one another. The man I faced was large and was just as strong as he looked. Whenever our weapons did clash I would be blown back but he would shrug off my blows with little effort. Even though I was on the back-foot I was able to learn a lot in the little time I had in-between clashes. I even managed to find an opening in his attacks I just needed to figure out how to exploit that.

We dueled for what felt like hours when in truth it was mere minutes. It was at this point that the commander began to speak to me. "You know, I shocked. I thought the general would be ridiculously strong, but you're nothing special. How… disappointing." I could tell that he said that to get into my head.

"Says the man who hasn't managed to get any decent hits in." I taunted him right back.

"Touche." He smirked.

I returned the smile and readied myself for the next clash. Just then I saw a blinding flash. He used his weapon to direct the high noon sun into my eyes. Using that moment he charged at me and all I could do was block the incoming attack. His attack this time was stronger than the others that I had pretty much gotten used to. He knocked away my weapon and with his follow up the attack he cut across my chest, clean through the chest plate that I had, then he rammed his shoulder into my chest sending me back several meters. Tet must have modified the pain in the game because I barely felt the cut or the blood I was losing. After a few moments, I managed to stand back up and drew the only weapon I had left, my katana, my unsharpened katana. Something had clicked in my mind, I needed to fight the way I was most comfortable. To the surprise of the commander, I proceeded to remove all the armor that I wore. The helmet, bracers, shoulder guards, chest and back plates, and my shin guards, I took them all off. After that was done I stretched my legs and arms and readied myself again. I don't know why he allowed me to do as much as I did but maybe he was curious about what I was doing. Either way, he allowed me to do all that, this was my last chance to achieve victory on this day. He had a longer reach and I could not hope to cut him which gave me one choice. I charged straight for him hoping that I could get within his reach before he had time to swing at me, I was a bit faster without the armor, but not fast enough he anticipated that I would be faster and started his swing before I even entered his range and he cut clean through where I was. Only I was not there, the commander's great strength lead to the realization that he'd swing with all his might and I would be able to land on his follow through when I jumped over his attack. When he realized where I was it was too late, I lunged forward piercing his neck with the tip of my katana. He coughed up blood and fell over, I did it. Once again I rose to my feet. The exhilaration and adrenaline keeping me going even though all my energy was spent. I stared at the defeated commander for a moment then lifting my right fist in the air I let out a victory cry.

"Orah!"

As I did, so did my men. "ORAH!"

* * *

Not too long after the enemy around me lost their morale and began to fall back to the main force. It was at this point that Meng Tian came to get me away from the battle. I had no strength left and could barely think straight. I blacked out and at that point, I only know what Tian told me. He ordered the men I lead to pick off as many of the retreating enemies as they could before they got to their main force he estimated that they took out at least 10,000 to our only 200 in that clash.

With the attack being a success and with the flank no longer in danger, Xin had ordered a frontal assault of the men I gave him. He had dug in those two days and only lost about 4 thousand in those two days, as opposed to what was lost on the first day. At the end of it we had the numerical advantage now of about 10,000 - 15,000 men as well we still had all our commanders while the enemy has lost three now.

When I awoke that night I was in great pain, turned out Tet didn't alter the pain in the slightest I was just hyped up on adrenaline was all. I bleed out a lot and it was only thanks to Meng Tian's timely intervention that the game was still going. The pain didn't stop me though. There was still one thing that I need to do at this moment. I staggered my way to the tribesmen and woman that aided us. I started speaking with the representative. "I cannot thank you and your people enough. Today was a big victory for us." I bowed. "You have all fulfilled the agreement. All that is left is for you to return to your homes. I ask that you wait until the battle is over as the way back may be dangerous."

He didn't say much, he merely placed his hand on my shoulder and smiled. As if to say, 'Think nothing of it. Now win.'

I lowered my head once more before retiring for the night to my tent, to rest for the coming day. The day that wouldn't come.

In the middle of the night, I awake to the sound of men shouting and the smell of smoke. "What?" It was a night raid, Tet had launched a raid on the day I returned, it was too perfect.

I ran outside with my sword in hand. "Tian, Xin! What's happening?"

"Enemy attack sir." I heard Tian shout. "They came in with no resistance!"

"How?"

Tian went quiet. "…"

I staggered around trying to find out anything I could. There were occasional soldiers that I met and had to deal with. It got harder with every step but at the same time I was getting faster. "Tet, you bastard! I knew it was too good to be true." I saw the tribesmen attacking my men. They were in Tet's pocket already. He must have known that I would be seeking their aid and got to them first. Gain my trust and infiltrate my camp and attack from within. My gamble came back to bite me in the ass. I knew it was too easy but I had to try anyway.

I tried fighting for as long as my body would allow but soon I fell to my knees, exhausted, unable even lift my arms anymore. It was at this point that I saw someone approach me. A small childlike frame and a childish voice rang in my ears. "You know, it really was a smart move to try and use the villagers to your advantage. Unfortunately for you, I got them first."

All I could bring myself to do was smile. "Looks like you played the better hand Tet."

Tet placed his hand over my mouth. "Hey hey, mister. Tell me, did you have fun?"

I was surprised by this, why ask? I closed my eyes and he removed his hand.

"Well?"

I opened my eyes and spoke clearly. "More fun than I ever had playing games. I finally had an idea of what Sora and Shiro have been feeling their whole lives." I closed my eyes again, "It's my-" Tet covered my mouth again.

What he said next shocked me to no end. "You win Mister Tatsuya, I surrender."

With those words, the area around use vanished and we were back at the spot where we made the deal. "Wh- What did you just do?"

"It's pretty simple mister. I lost, you won." Tet smiled.

"Why, you clearly won," I argued. I had resigned myself to being separated from everyone, but he threw away his victory.

"No, the deal was the one who admits defeat is the loser." He started to float. "Looks like you also won again Mister Sora."

* * *

- _To be continued-_

 ** _What does Tet mean by that? Find you when Tatsuya's adventure in the world of Disboard continues. This chapter was exceedingly difficult to write. I was unsure of how much detail to go into in terms of combat and strategy. I hope I found the proper equilibrium in detail, combat, and strategy. This is a longer than usual chapter I likely won't be able to keep posting chapters at this length as it would become too detailed I feel from point A to B in the chapters._**

 **As always I encourage reader response. Comment, suggestions, criticism, rant, correct grammar or continuity, share ideas, or anything else you have to say I welcome it. For those of you who enjoy my little story, I want you to know I really appreciate your views and comments. Chapter 9 should be up by the beginning of next month… but I have a bad time adhering to those kinds of schedules. Thank you all and if you celebrated Easter, hope it was a good one.**


	10. Chapter 9: You reap what you sow

**Chapter 9: You reap what you sow**

 ** _I started working right after finishing the last chapter as I had an idea of how I wanted to start this one off._**

* * *

 ** _-Excerpt from Shiro's journal-_**

'June 30th (2 months since Tatsu-nii left)

I keep hoping that I'll wake up and it'll all be a dream. This world was only fun when I had Tatsu-nii to spoil me and Nii to play with. Jibril is all right but she's only here because Nii owns her, the pervert.

I don't understand. Everything went as I predicted but then something went wrong. I had thought that Tatsu-nii would forgive everything when we explained what happened… Nii and I should have never taken that bet with Tet. We should have had more faith in our friend. We should have had more faith in our Tatsuya.

Nii used to get into trouble when he'd peep on the maid girls when they would take their baths. Then Tatsu-nii would catch, scold, and punish him for being a pervert. Steph would wash me and tell me about how his ambassador role is going and then I'd grope her. It's not perverted since I'm so cute. ;) tear stain

At first, Nii would peep but when Tatsu-nii never showed he lost interest. He's not even doing dirty things to Jibril anymore. Not that she doesn't want him to. He and I have started to lose our desire to play with Tet again.

I don't like this feeling, it's not something that I can describe. I imagine that this is the closest that I have ever felt to being the loser of a game.

[Next page]

I HATE THIS!

TATSUYA COME BACK!

[Next page]

I wish I knew where he was, the last thing we heard about was that he was in the dwarves country. He sends us letters as the ambassador, he doesn't even ask how Nii and I are doing. He doesn't write to tell us to remember to go to sleep and eat properly. It hurts more every time we get a letter. Nii and I have had to remember to do the things ourselves and it's boring.

My birthday is next month and all I want is for Tatsu-nii to forgive us.

We didn't just lose our caretaker or friend. Nii and I have broken the bond with the only family that we ever cared for. I wish I could just tell him how sorry I am. And how much I want him back.'

* * *

 ** _-After Tet's game-_**

I was confused by his words.

"Sora? What?"

Tet smiled, "Oh this was… well, I should let them tell you," he pointed behind me. When I turned I saw Sora, Shiro, Jibril, and Stephani.

"You guys? Can someone please explain what the heck is going on here?" I didn't know what to think at the moment.

Sora steps forward of course. "Congratulations Tatsu, you have helped Shiro and I win a bet with Tet here. The bet was that you actually could have fun with a game." Sora smiled and offered me his hand.

I still didn't quite understand. "What? When did this happen?"

Sora follows up quickly. "When Tet came to speak with us a while back. Not only that I got-"

I glared at Sora causing him stop talking. "So, everything that has happened up until now was all a part of your little bet?" I got closer to him. "You distance yourself from me, you stopped informing me of your plans, you isolated me, and under the pretext of my meetings with miss Fil you exiled me, just so I had a reason to take Tet's game," I grab Sora by the collar and shout, "so that I would have something of "equal value" to wager! All so you could win a damn bet!"

Sora's expression was quite telling. "You got it, man. We knew you could do-"

"Sora!" I stopped him again.

"What?" He opened his eyes to see my angered expression, likely not what he thought I'd look like. Before I said anything more I punched him in the face putting him on his back.

"Tatsuya?" The group shouted. Shiro ran to Sora to check on him. After all, I don't think I ever hit him harder than I did at that moment.

"Why did you hit him like that?" She questioned.

"Did-" I couldn't find the words at the moment.

"Tatsuya, are you okay?" Steph came to my side and grabbed my arm.

"Did you know?" I asked point blank, the "love" she feels meant that she shouldn't be able to lie to me I thought.

"What?" She questioned.

"I said, did you know about this bet?" I spoke louder and more clearly.

She shakes her head. "I only just found out just before arriving. Shiro said that they didn't want to risk me telling you. So I was kept in the dark as well."

I was a bit relieved since she didn't seem to be lying. I turned my attention back to Sora who was rubbing his cheek. "Why did you even take a bet like that in the first place?"

Sora got up. "We wanted to prove that you did know how to have fun playing games."

"Did it ever occur to you to ask me?" I got angrier and angrier the further this whole thing went. I lowered my arm. "No, I suppose you didn't. I thought I taught you better. Guess I was wrong after all." I noticed Shiro cowering behind Sora, she has never seen me this way before in her life.

"I don't see the problem, you've always been okay when we include you in our schemes." Sora shrugged.

I could barely contain my anger. "You idiot, you used to tell me ahead of time!" I looked down at my feet. "I thought- I thought you no longer wanted me around. I thought you no longer saw me as someone you could rely on."

"Tatsuya, come on, you know that wouldn't happen." Sora tried to be reassuring, but all I heard was that he used me.

"I'm…" I paused, "I'm not so sure about that anymore…" I took Stephani's hand and turned away. "Let's go, Stephani."

"Go?" Sora, Shiro, and Stephani all said in unison.

I paused. "I'm leaving. I will, from now on, only be the ambassador. I will send correspondence back when I make contact with other countries."

"Tatsu-nii, where are you-?" Shiro grabbed my waist.

I didn't even look down to her. "Let go, Shiro. I'm leaving. You can't stop me." I knew that if I looked down at her I'd change and crumble.

"But-"

"Shiro… You reap what you sow." I push her off me and take Stephani with me. "You should learn from your own mistakes. No matter how few of them you think you make. People are not your pawns, they have feelings and can be hurt or broken when misused."

Shiro stood there. "Tatsu-nii…" I could hear her starting to cry. I had to keep my composure and stay strong.

I paused once more. "Good-bye Shiro, I don't know if I'll ever see you again." It hurt me to say all that but I had to do it. They wouldn't learn if I caved. I continued to walk, Stephani trailed behind me looking back at the siblings.

Sora ran after me a bit. "Tatsuya, you can't just leave! I challenge you to a game. If I win you have to stay!"

"Good-bye Sora." I didn't even hesitate this time, Sora clearly didn't get why I was so angry in the first place.

I was later told by Jibril, that Tet stuck around until after I was out of view and said something like, "I'm surprised that even you two were so short-sighted when it came to your friend."

To which Sora and Shiro said nothing and simply returned to the Elkia castle. After that, I don't know what happened to them for months.

* * *

 ** _-Present-_**

It has been two months since I left Sora and Shiro. In that time I visited the Elven nation due east of Elkia. My connection with miss Fil paid off as I was able to enter and be granted an audience with the leaders rather smoothly. Bureaucracy at it's finest I suppose. They asked about Sora's intentions to which I informed them that my only duty is to establish diplomatic communications with them and that I was not allowed to discuss the objective of the new king and queen or state secrets. Not that I knew what they were doing at that time. From there I managed to get a sort of ceasefire between them and Imanity, they would move their focus onto the dwarves due south of them in exchange for Imanity making no move against them. I also requested that they relax the slavery they practice but to go further would require the use of a game. Of course, it was all verbal agreements but I sent Sora and Shiro a letter with details of the agreement between us.

From The Elves, I then head Northern coast to meet the Siren people, which I was worried at first as they were more aquatic based than humans, but my worry was for not. They had no magic but they had better individual mobility than Imanity. They proposed a political marriage to which I declined them on all accounts for the time being. Sora needed to focus on whatever his next move was before the pressure of politics cloud his judgment. The letter I sent then did not include the details of the political marriage suggested as Sora would be childish and say something like, "Can I choose?" As they are not "yet" a neighboring country I didn't push for a treaty of any type. But in the letter, I did mention that the Sirens were likely the easiest to conquer when it came down to it, as they were rather straightforward and a bit clumsy.

All this time Stephani was by my side and our relationship appeared to be going smoothly. We only got to the stage where kissing became normal for us but we didn't do anything more than that. I am a bit old-fashioned where I want to wait until I am married to do anything more. That said, I still have thoughts, I mean she's so cute and this trip is taking her to places she's never seen before. She loves all the sights and new places we visit. But I can tell she wants to go home as well, seems no matter where you go home is still home. I know how she feels, the only reason she stays that I can imagine is the condition of "love" and that she knows this is hard on me so she wants to be there for me. At least I hope that's the case.

My latest and current stop was the dwarves. Short and burly like in every novel I've ever read, I've been allowed to stay with a member of the Dwarf council, Rowand. He is quite nice, in fact, most if not all Dwarves treat us well. Seems there is no animosity between the Dwarves and Imanity as they have never had borders shared, there aren't even any stories of the two fighting in the times before Tet won the battle of the gods. In fact, the only thing they have ever shared was a common adversary in the Elves. So far, in my time away, the negotiations with the Dwarves went so smooth it was almost too easy. They've heard much about what happened when Sora and Shiro took the throne, in particular, they were impressed by Sora's quick introduction of crop rotations. They requested to have their farmers taught how to do. Of course, it wasn't for free, I requested the building of a tunnel highway from their land to the kingdom of Elkia, to open direct trade relations. The fact that the elves, mostly, lived in the tree canopies made the plans go smoothly. What was to be traded was better farming equipment to Elkia for Northern fish and this worlds version of tobacco that they called "rough weed," Both of which are easy for Elkia to produce. Once the negotiations went through they allowed me to stay for a time and learn more about the nation from a first-hand perspective. This is the most recent letter I sent back to Sora and Shiro.

Stephani and I returned to the room that Rowand provided for us after getting a close look at the silver mines that he runs. She turned to me before I even closed the door. "Let's go back."

"To the mines? They're closed for the day." I was never very good at the pronoun game.

She shook her head. "No." She took my hand and looked into my eyes. "Let's go home."

I took a deep breath, taking my hand away. "Steph," I then hugged her tight she hesitated to hug back, "I'm sorry, I've kept you away from home for so long. I thank you, for being with me so long. It's selfish of me to keep you away with me. But you know I can't just go back. After everything that has happened, how could I just, 'go back,' like this."

"Why?" She pushed away, "Why can't you go back? Because of Sora or because of you?"

"I-" I didn't have an answer for her because I didn't even know anymore myself. Once I cooled off, I regretted everything I said to them, but I couldn't take it back. How could I? They probably hate me for leaving. Even if I did return, I doubt they would just accept me back with a simple apology.

"You what?" She gazed into my eyes.

"I think, you and I should play a game." Words I thought I'd never be the one to utter.

"What?" She clearly thought the same.

I cleared my throat. "I mean, a game where if you win you get the love condition taken off, and if you lose it still gets taken off."

"Then what's the point?" The terms meant that I stood nothing to gain from the game.

"I want to know if I've managed to make you fall for me without the love curse. If I haven't then you are free to return home if you have then I'll be glad." I thought I was doing something good for her.

She got noticeably mad at me. "Is that what you think? That I've been following you because I was under the spell of that game I played with Sora all that time ago?" Her cheeks became puffy and her eyes started to water. "Dummy." She covered her face before the tears began to run.

"What?" Her words made little sense to me.

"King Sora, he took played a game with me for the same thing just before we found you with Tet. he said it was going to be in celebration of you having fun in a game. I didn't tell you until now because you were in a bad place and I didn't have the chance to." She was close to balling. "But it's been two months and you never even noticed anyway."

But-" She was right, I thought for a while now that she was no longer struggling with the requests I made and she wasn't overly in love anymore to the point she nearly hurt herself. But I didn't make the connection that she wasn't under the spell anymore. "I'm a damn fool for not noticing. I'm sorry." I bowed my head. "I don't deserve your forgiveness." I raised my head. "But if that's the case why have you stayed with me for so long?"

She rubbed her face. "Dummy, the person I care most about was in a lot of pain. What else was I supposed to do? I wanted to help you get through your hurt. But you just want to run away from your friends just because they did something that you didn't like."

I'm dumbfounded. She was right, but what I hated more was that I couldn't bring myself to go back no matter what how much I wanted to. "Stephani, I'm sorry." I fell to my knees. Tears welled up in my eyes. "I really, really don't deserve you at all. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." I began to cry, something that I don't think I've done since I first met Shiro.

Stephani came to me, knelt down and cradled my head to her chest, stroking my hair. "Shh, darling. Let it out. You've better so strong for so long. You deserve to let it out for once."

I don't care to explain how I must have looked, but it was something that I hoped to never show anyone. Though I should count my blessing that it was Stephani and no one else that saw this side of me.

After I settled down. I asked Stephani to make one thing, "Steph, can I ask for just a bit longer? There's just one more place that I want to go before we head back."

She lifted a bit my head and kissed my forehead. "Of course Darling. Where?"

* * *

 ** _That's all for now. Where are Tatsuya and Stephani headed to next? Find out when we continue in The Tag Along. Tatsuya was never intended to be a "yes man" and he hasn't forgiven Sora completely but he does regret leaving the siblings who still needed him. I was thinking to have Tatsuya get into a love triangle with a Siren but opted against it to move the story along, and I'm not usually a fan of love triangles._**

 **As always I encourage reader response. Comment, suggestions, criticism, rant, correct grammar or continuity, share ideas, or anything else you have to say I welcome it. For those of you who enjoy my little story, I want you to know I really appreciate your views and comments. And of course, thank you for your views.**


	11. Chapter 10: To those it may concern

**Chapter 10: To those it may concern**

 ** _Who would've thought that I'd actually make it to chapter 10 of all things? I'd like to thank all of you who have been reading up till now and for all of you that have left reviews. It means a lot even if it is only "update please," to me it just means that you have enjoyed what I have put out there and want more. So for that, I thank you._**

* * *

 ** _-One month later-_**

It took longer than I expected, but Stephani and I managed to make it to the final destination on the list, Rowand wasn't eager to let us leave. It was quite awkward when we tried to tell him that we needed to leave, but with a bit of guilting him with Stephani's homesickness, we persuaded him to help us get a ship that will take us here.

Off the Elkia coast is a nation that spans the ocean covering all the islands that lie in between the two continents. In fact, they have land holdings on both continents as well, but the capital is on the island furthest from both. A very advanced race, despite the technology of the rest of this world, they have somehow managed to create mechanisms that I recognized before even Stephani did. Elevators, skyscrapers and even televisions all technologies centuries more advanced than the rest of what I've seen from other nations. It was truly a wonder how they had managed to monopolize the technology of this world for themselves.

"Tatsuya look, that wall is moving." Stephani had never seen a television before, she was a little bit like a child going to a toy store for the first time. She excitedly pointed at all the interesting architecture and devices.

I couldn't help but smile at her child-like behavior, it was so adorable. Though I suppose I'm a bit biased when it comes to her. "Believe it or not Steph, this is closer to the technological level of the world I came from."

She pulled her face away from the TV to see where I was sitting while we waited. "Really?"

I nodded. "Though I think they're still a few years behind." I boasted just a bit. _'They must have discovered silicon and figured out how to harness it decades ago. It's impressive when considering the rest of this world.'_ I thought to myself.

Steph seemed to remember something so she hurried to my side and whispered in my ear. "Darling, I didn't tell you this in the lessons because I didn't think it useful at the time but there's something about these people that you should know. Even though they don't have magic they have this strange ability to read people's minds. So look out for that." She warned.

I chuckled, not because of what she said but because her hair got in my ear and it tickled. "Come now Steph, there's no way they could do that."

As if they were listening at the moment I said that the person I was coming to see arrived. "You might be surprised Mister ambassador."

A woman stood before Stephani and me. She was tall and to my surprise, or maybe it was by irony, was far more beautiful than I imagined the leader of these people to be. I held my composure however and rose to meet her. "Thank you for seeing me on such short notice. You've saved us a lot of time." I bowed in gratitude.

She placed two fingers under my chin and made me raise my head. "Let me have a look at you 'Human Ambassador' I'd like to see with whom I'm dealing with." Her voice was seductive and very alluring. Given her position, it was likely a ploy to keep me on my heels.

"Ma'am, I'd appreciate if you would ask permission if you want to touch my face in such a way." I remained stern to counter her offensive.

She snickered. "My my, despite your age you're very composed. Not many men can decline my advances." I couldn't tell if she was complimenting me of ridiculing me. "You are such a stern and manly child. No, that won't do, rather a strong-willed and mature man."

I may be young but thanks to Miss Fil I was able to learn how women here use their looks and position to manipulate the men and how to respond to their manipulations. Most of the Exceeds are run by women in fact so there's no surprise they'd be good at getting their way.

I took Stephani's hand in mine to reaffirm that she needn't worry. "Ma'am, may I ask that we conduct the meeting you've agreed to."

Her smile disappeared. "I'm just trying to have a bit of fun. It's not often I get to interact with a person from another world." Her fluffy tails swiped my face. "All right, right this way child." She paused for a moment turning her head just slightly to let us hear her speak clearly. "I hope you don't disappoint me."

Seems I lost my promotion from a "child" to "man" before the meeting progressed any further. This woman was difficult to read but nothing so far leads me to believe that she was reading my mind. The fact that there were people from another world became common knowledge after Sora and Shiro defeated Jibril so the fact that she knew that wasn't even alarming in the slightest.

She lead the two of us to her "office" if you could call it that. Actually, the better name for it was definitely "Bathhouse." I stood inside the room Stephani still holding my hand and with my eyes closed. "What is the meaning of this?"

I heard a splash followed by, "I find negotiations go better when both parties are relaxed."

"I'd prefer if this matter was taken seriously, ma'am." I felt Steph's free hand cover my eyes to make sure I didn't peek. I'm not like Sora I don't want to peep on a woman but I don't actually know what to do here. It might be their custom and I'd be being rude for not complying, even if it's not what is the purpose of this type of talk? "Ma'am…"

I heard the rustling of water followed by, "Yes child?"

I swallowed the lump in my throat, even if I'm not like Sora, her outfit from earlier left little to the imagination and I wouldn't be a "man" if I didn't want to see. But I wanted to be faithful to Stephani who has already gone through so much just for me I couldn't betray her like that now. "Could I request a divider to be put up so that I can have ease of mind?"

"…" There was a brief moment of silence, then I swore I heard, "Tch." Did she just click her tongue?

"Very well child." She snapped her fingers and in a matter of seconds, there was a curtain running down the middle of the room. "Would this suffice?" She questioned poking her head through the curtain.

Stephani removed her hand and I opened my eyes. I was fine with it but I double-checked with her to make sure and she nodded before herself going to the other side of the curtain. I didn't see the harm in her enjoying the bath while I talked.

After a few minutes, I undressed and got in the water. The woman was in one of the highest pools so I entered the adjacent one. When I got settled She spoke once more. "Where do we begin child?"

* * *

 ** _-1 week later, Elkia palace-_**

( **Sora's perspective** )

"Checkmate." It was the third time today that I defeated Jibril in a game. Each time I won she was to remove a piece of clothing. She doesn't wear much so the idea only lasts for so long before I get bored of it.

"OOOOHHHH, Master you're so dirty, making me do this." She would whine but we all knew she really didn't care about being naked.

It's not even fun anymore. She doesn't even fight it. She's the one that came up with this game anyway. *sigh* "Jibril."

"Yes, Master?" She got this look like she was expecting something. I never did anything to the maids either I just liked seeing their reactions when I peeped on them knowing they couldn't do anything to me. But even that game grew old, but I digress.

"What's it like to lose a game that you never thought you were playing?" I asked her this question hoping that someday I'd get something that I didn't the previous day.

She shrugged. "I wouldn't know. Games only affect the people participating in them. Much like how I became your property to do with as you please." The same answer she gave me every time. I don't even know what it is that I'm looking for but I keep hoping that I'll come up with something one day.

"How many days has it been since Tatsuya left?" I followed up the same as always.

Jibril lowered her head and placed her hand on her chest as she conjured up the memory in her database. "Your majesty's friend, Sir Tatsuya, left exactly 99 days, 3 hours and 42 minutes ago. Coincidentally that the last time that you ever stepped outside the palace." She adds that to her report. Since she can't tell me to do anything she feels she could at least tell me that… or maybe she's just trying to piss me off, either way, it annoyed me when she took that tone.

Shiro was often in a daze now and we'd actually not be in the same room at some points and be completely fine, at least until one of us noticed the other wasn't with us.

These days go by so fast I lose track of everything so easily. I just don't know why. Shiro and I are still undefeated and we want to conquer this world but we've lost all drive to proceed. I don't get it. Shiro won't discuss Tatsuya with me, she just becomes a sniffling mess and starts crying. Steph's not here to tell us what he's doing or what he's thinking. Jibril views him as inferior so she's not helping what so ever. I just want to figure out what to do now. Tatsuya sends back letters but he's only telling us if he feels that we could strike an opposing country or if relations were set up. Around noon we got another letter from him but I just couldn't bring myself to read it. When it was time for dinner I asked Jibril to read the contents to me.

"Ahem."

 _Dear Sora and Shiro,_

 _If you're reading this then I am dead…_

Jibril stopped reading because I took the letter from her and Shiro nearly fainted just from hearing that. "What the hell?" I started reading.

* * *

 _Dear Sora and Shiro,_

 _If you're reading this, then I am dead._

 _._

 _._

 _._

 _Yeah right, I just knew you'd have Jibril read it out to you so I decided to play a joke on you. Poor taste I know but anything to picture the reactions you two just had. As stated in my last letter I ventured to meet with the 'Warbeasts' in the Eastern Federation. They are very advanced for this world, nearly on par with our old world. They're pleasant enough to me since I'm only here for talks. The leader is a "Fox", she neglected to state her name so I have decided to call her "Kitsune" for reasons you'll know soon enough. I'll not bore you with the details, so here's the report:_

 _The Warbeasts are ready if you decided to invade they've come up with a game that not even elves with their magic have been able to defeat. According to Kitsune they always add the condition that if you lose you are to forget all aspects of the game on top of land gained. They even defeated the previous king of Elkia 7 times. There should be a large tower in view of the palace that is their easternmost facility. There is a young representative there by the name Izuna. I suggest establishing contact at that location you could use them as a deterrent from the elves if need be. That's all I have to report._

 _Ambassador Tatsuya_

 _P.S. Flip this over for a surprise._

* * *

I flipped over the letter and I found two pictures attached. I dropped the letter, frozen in shock. The images were of the aforementioned Izuna and the other was of Tatsuya and Steph with "Kitsune" in a bath together, he was right though she does look like a Kitsune but I was more upset by the fact he got to bathe with her. "That lucky bastard, chumming up with this animal eared beauties. Dammit!"

I don't know why I was so angry. It didn't make sense, so what if he was taking a bath with a gorgeous fox girl. So what if he has a girl with loves him by his side on his journey. Why am I so upset now?

* * *

 _- **hours earlier** -_

( **Tatsuya narration** )

The castle received two letters one was addressed to the siblings and the second to Jibril. curious by this She read it while Sora and Shiro were wallowing.

 _Jibril,_

 _You know who is writing this so I'll skip to the point. It's been over 3 months since I've departed and I've not heard of any moves that those two have made. It seems my departure affected them more than I ever thought it was. Not only that knowing them and Sora, in particular, they probably don't understand why I was so angry in the first place. I've had some time to piece together my thoughts during my travels and I came up with something that I think they'll understand. You're probably wondering why I'm writing this to you and not them. It's simple really. I want them to come to the realization themselves but to do that you may need to leave a trail for them to follow they won't need a map just the starting point._

 _What I came up with is that games here don't just affect those involved. Even if it's unintended games have repercussions that not even they could predict all the time. When they defeated Kurami they didn't just defeat her they gained the title of King and Queen of a people who had nothing to do with the game they play. Only those people were the game. The winner became their ruler, their Leader and their beacon they look to for the future. Future is not something you can completely predict based on probability instead it should be something they prepare for. As they learned the hard way, not everything comes down to calculations and prediction._

 _That's all I have for now,_

 _Tatsuya aka 'your favorite not Master'_

 _P.S. I'm coming back now, do not tell them. And burn this letter._

Jibril did just as I instructed and burned the letter. I, to this day, don't know why she complied.

* * *

 ** _-the following day-_**

 **(Sora POV)**

That letter sucked, it gave Shiro nightmares and made both of us lose our appetites. I was so tired trying to comfort Shiro to little success. She was blaming herself for everything. Saying she should have predicted this outcome too and measured the probability of it happening.

As became routine I played strip chess with Jibril. She wore more today for some reason, I figured it was to try and have more chances to win or entice me to keep going. But I petered out after the third game as it basically became my limit. I asked her the same question as I always did. "Jibril."

"Yes, Master?" She gave the same smile as he always did.

"What's it like to lose a game you didn't know you were playing?" I said it the same way as always. I don't even know what I was expecting any more, but today she said.

She closed her eyes and calmly spoke, "Master, 100 times you've asked this of me and 99 times I said the same thing as I don't have the answer. Today I want to ask you something in return."

This was surprising, to say the least, Jibril rarely, rather never, said anything different from her usual reply. "Huh? This is weird, but go ahead."

"Master, before I met you, you were involved in a game of Chess were you not? A game against the elves spy." She asked but this was common knowledge at this point.

I crossed my arms and tilted my head. "Yeah, you know that already. Why bring that up now?"

She bowed her head, "Forgive me if I seem presumptuous, but the ones playing were not the only ones that would be affected by the outcome right?"

"Where are you going with this Jibril?" This kept getting weirder and weirder. "Did the head maid put you up to this? This is a weird idea of a joke. First Tatsu and now this? What's next, Shiro confessing her unrequited love for Tatsu?"

Jibril didn't miss a beat. "Right?"

I sighed, "Yeah, there was 'Blank' and Kurami that's it."

She lifted her head and looked me dead in the eye. "If you truly believe that then you are hopeless to ever figure that out."

"What did you say?" Is she challenging my authority?

She winked at me. "There are 4 million people whom would have been affected by that game. They got a new king and they never played the game. In a way, they lost a game without playing. And won without playing it." Coming from Jibril this made no sense. Since when did she care about others enough to think of something like that?

"Jibril," I stopped her from continuing, "who put you up to this? I order you to tell me."

She sighed, I've never seen her sigh in that way before. "I maybe Master's property but I can still think for myself, Master."

She wasn't wrong, we never took away her free will entirely her thoughts are still her own, no matter how perverted they are… why do I care how perverted her mind is? "They why haven't you said something like this before?"

She shrugged. "I thought you'd be smart enough to think of it on your own. You did defeat me after all, a member of the Flugel council."

I didn't have a strong answer to her remark. "So you gave up on me?"

"Not at all, I simply decided to help you a bit more than usual." She gave a confident smile.

I placed my hands on my ears. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "So what are you suggesting that I do?"

She got closer to me grabbing my arm and just like that we jumped to the middle of town. "Wha! Why am I here?" I don't like being in public, she knows this so then why would she do this?

"Master, the only way to find out what it's like to lose a game you don't play you need to ask the people who were affected by the game." She took back her hand and began to fly away leaving me. "I'll keep Master Shiro company so don't you worry about her. We'll be awaiting your return."

* * *

 _ **That's all for now. While this chapter had "fanservice" in it, I will not really be making a habit of it. The photo of Tatsuya and "Kitsune" is after the bath and they put on rodes. Tatsuya had it taken to tease Sora making it seem like he actually bathed with her. Tatsuya is not that kind of person plus it would have done away with the entire previous conversation where he stayed true to his principles.**_

 _ **Anyway, thank you all for reading Chapter 10. I have been having a lot of fun figuring out the scenario. To those of you that may think I'm settling the matter of Tatsuya leaving too quickly, I think you're missing my intention with Tatsuya as a character. He's not meant to be Sora's enemy, he's meant to be Sora's conscious or even humanity in a sense. He always wants what's best for both Sora and Shiro. It's why he's always sending them letters letting them know who he feels is ripe for the taking. He's encouraging them to take on their first victim.**_

 _ **As always I encourage all forms of feedback. Reviews, rants, critiques, issues in continuity, grammar corrections, just saying hello. I try and respond to everyone. So please don't feel shy. You guys are what's keeping this going after all. I'll be focusing on finals the next month so I won't be updating for at least 4-6 weeks. Until then please enjoy.**_

 _ **Until nex time. This is Shi-oon Yi signing off.**_


	12. Chapter 11: Come What May

**I don't own NGNL, just Tatsuya.**

 **Chapter 11: Come what may**

* * *

I still can hardly believe that I've been away from Sora and Shiro for this long, almost four months now. I know it may have been for what they did but I never thought that I would be able to keep myself away for so long. Had it not been for the last interaction I had with Sora and Shiro, mostly Sora, I likely would have stopped off in Elkia before going to each new country. But I had committed to my role of trying to teach them a lesson about others and their feelings when used as pawns.

So here I am, nearly 6 months since arriving in this world. My hair had grown significantly, so I had to tie it back in a short ponytail. I've never grown it out before so it seemed like it'd be fun to try. All the countries we visited fed us a lot of different exotic foods so I picked up my new workout routine, I must say Stephani seems to like it. Stephani also let her hair grow out a bit, it was just passed her shoulders resting on her back.

I've been here for so long that sometimes I'd forget that I even came from another world entirely. I still wonder if Tet held up his end and figured out a way to let my family know that I was alright.

I had hoped that Jibril would have done as I asked. She was a curious one from what I remembered, I thought that she would figure out a way to provoke Sora to learn. Something that I failed to do. I'd always known Sora was stubborn about his way of thinking, I'm likely guilty of the very same but I still wanted to help him. Maybe I was going about this all wrong, but I tried to do what I thought would be right, by him and by Shiro. I might not be their parents but I always thought that I had a responsibility to them. Had I gone too far this time, would they even respond the way I hoped or was I as foolish as them to think that everything would go as I'd hoped? In all likelihood, they wouldn't need me at all after this. I'm not sure I'll be able to handle that.

* * *

 _-In a ship on the ocean-_

It's been more than a week since I sent that letters to Sora and Jibril. I'd soon find out whether I was successful or failed horribly. I had a hard time breathing, it was as if I had someone strangling me but with just enough give to allow me small breathes.

"Ste- I mean Sweety…" I spoke up after a long silence, looking out over the side of the ship.

I was still not used to using the affectionate pet names that we try to call each other.

She turned around leaning against the railing of the ship. "Hmm?"

"Sora and Shiro, do you think they'll be mad at me?" I was slumped against the railing as the shipped bobbed, I'd never been seasick before but this voyage felt extra long, I don't know if it was my nerves or that I was finally going back to Elkia and that I was feeling homesick.

"…" She didn't answer for a bit, I was sure it was because she knew they would.

"Darling, I think you give them too little credit. Sure the two of them are incompetent when it comes to everyone else but they hold you in the utmost regard." She told me this but that wasn't exactly unknown to me. At the very least it was reassuring to hear those words from her.

"I really hope you're right." I slowly rose to my feet and proceeded to try and distract myself for the remainder of the journey. "Say Steph, can you teach me how to dance?" This was something that I thought would be a good idea since we had done so much almost without stopping, and now we had a moment to ourselves where there was no plan or schedule to keep.

"Dance?" I could hear the confusion in her voice as it had never even been spoken of between us before.

I met her eyes and nodded my head to confirm that she heard me right. "I've seen several dances since coming here and traveling around to all the other nations. It got me thinking, why can't I try and join in on the fun?"

I saw her return to her normal expression as she processed my words. I extended my arm, hand open and she took it with a smile. "I'm not very good and grandfather only ever taught me the formal dance."

I clutched her soft hand. "Perfect. Then I should probably tell you that I have two left feet." I jested, sort of.

It would be several hours before we made port on the shores of the continent, and even longer still in a carriage ride to the capital of Elkia.

When Steph told me that we were back in Elkia my breathing issue returned and I was getting a cold sweat. I wasn't sick, so I was just so nervous that I was showing physical signs. I had to try and do meditative breathing exercises before we got to the city.

As I watched the rolling hills and farms of the countryside pass by the window of the carriage and something popped up in my mind. "I hope she's not too mad, 'bout me missing it," I spoke aloud rhetorically.

Steph probably wasn't expecting me to say anything so she asked anyway, "What are you talking about Darling?"

I shook my head a bit still staring out the window, "Shiro's birthday. It was just about a week ago. I've never missed her birthday since she was brought into Sora's family."

I guess it never came up while she was working close to them but my words confused her. "Wait, what do you mean by she was brought in? I thought the two of them are brother and sister but that makes it sound like they aren't."

I lifted my head from resting on my hand. "Hmm? I thought they might have told you."

She shook her head profusely. "They only ever spoke to me about you, or they'd insult my intelligence, but not once did they ever talk about themselves."

I sighed and hesitated before deciding I should tell her, "How should I say this?" I hadn't ever explained this to anyone before since they stayed locked away in their room for so long. I couldn't even think of a time when someone would ask about them besides their parents. It took a moment but I told her.

"The two of them are siblings, legally, but not biologically Sora's parents were or are rather wealthy and when they found out about a prodigy like Shiro was up for adoption they jumped on the opportunity. They adopted Shiro making the two of them siblings. That is when I first met Shiro. When she was 5 and I was 11 when all that happened."

Stephani was processing the information.

"It's complicated, I know. Don't worry too much about it, they don't."

She seemed to agree with that remark and added, "Is that why you asked the dwarves to make something as a present?"

I pulled a small box out of my coat pocket. "Yeah, this is her birthday present."

"What's in it." She wasn't paying attention to the conversation when I asked for the present to be made, I think it had to do with the huge mine we were standing in and how high it went up. But either way, I intended it to be a surprise anyway so it worked out nicely for me.

* * *

 _-The Capital City-_

When we arrived at the city I could quickly tell that something was amiss. Seemingly nothing had changed for the people here. There were no new shops and nothing that I would quantify as new. It wasn't until we passed through the noble circle. Something had changed there. The district didn't feel as cold as I remembered it to be. It was then that we heard something land on top of the carriage.

"Well well," I heard the voice before Jibril poked her head through the roof of the carriage, "So you weren't full of bluster after all."

"Jibril, what do you mean?" I had some idea but knowing her it was meant to be some jab at me.

She gave a cheeky smile since she was upside down it looked like she was frowning, of course, she wasn't but the thought was humorous to me. "You were quite right about Master, he needed a little push and he started to think of new things, but I don't think that it went exactly as you hoped. He hasn't left the castle in days."

"What?" I exclaimed. "Why is he holding up in there?"

She shrugs.

"Damn it all! Take me to him now. I'm gonna have to strong arm him myself." I was extremely annoyed to hear this.

* * *

 _-The Castle-_

I stormed through the castle and swung the doors to the grand hall open. "Sora! Where are you!" He wasn't there, no one was actually. "Where is he?" I continued on through the castle, heading straight to Sora's room. Once I arrived at the room I kicked in the door.

"Sora!"

Sora, who was looking through a book, turned around shocked. "Tatsuya? Wha-what are you doing here? Geez, you nearly gave me a heart attack."

I stomped over and grabbed him by the collar. "Don't give me that crap. I have been going around the other nations for months scouting and forging alliances. All to help you take over the other exceeds and here I find you hold up in your Tet damn room!"

Sora held up his hands to protect his face. "Tatsuya, wait, just calm down a moment."

"Explain Sora!" I released his collar.

He fixed his collar. "First, I wanted to apologize for what Shiro and I did to you. We didn't mean to upset you like that. We wanted to show our faith in you, but because we didn't let you know, it was too late and it hurt you." Sora got out of his bed, surprisingly enough Shiro was not with him. In fact, I haven't seen her at all yet, I figured she'd have "heard" I was back and would have met me.

I couldn't help but sigh, Sora always was exhausting to talk to, "Sora, I'm not sure what lead you to do it, but I hope you learned your lesson. For all our sakes. Now explain why you haven't tried to take on the Sirens or Warbeasts!" I demanded an explanation.

Sora smiled and walked over to the window, the sun was getting ready to set. "It's quite simple really Tatsu, we were waiting," Sora said in a confident tone.

"Waiting? Waiting for what exactly?" I humored his tone.

"What else? You. We've been waiting for you to come back." He turned to me with his patented evil eye.

"And why were you waiting for me?" I held distrust in my voice as I crossed my arms skeptical of him.

"I told you before, we were going to take over this place and that you were crucial for my plans to do so. With our calculations having you with us would make our victory much easier." He seemed confident, but something was still bugging me to no end.

"Sora…" I spoke sternly much like I used to when Sora would peek on the maids.

He blinked as if to say, _"What?"_

"Where is Shiro?"

And just like that, I saw a crack in his confidence. "Why do you ask? She's probably in the library again, reading or something..." Something seemed wrong.

"Sora… Where is she?" I pressed the issue and got closer to him staring into his eyes, I could see the cold sweat forming on his brow. For a brief instant, he looked in the direction of the closet all the hint I needed to figure it out. Sora never was good when it came to lying to me, I knew all his ticks after all.

I slowly walked to the closet opening it quickly to find Shiro. She apparently was pressed up against the door so once I opened the door she ended up falling down, she had been listening in it seemed. But why was she in there to begin with? There must have been a reason for her to be there like that. Luckily for her, I managed to catch her before she hit the floor. "Shiro? What were you doing in- Ah, Shiro."

I found myself being hugged tightly by a nearly crying Shiro. She was clearly holding in her feelings while listening. "Tatsu-Nii!" I couldn't tell if she was angry, happy or what, "I'm sorry! We did that! SO sorry! I'll never do that again, so don't leave again! PLEASE!"

There were many replies that I had prepared and practiced to say to them when I came back, but in that instant, all that just fell apart as I held little Shiro in my arms. I hugged her tight. "As you command, My Queen." I stood up still holding her in my arms. She was still shaking a bit, "I suppose there is still the matter of this," I reached into my pocket and pulled out the little box with a bow on it, "this may be a bit late but I didn't forget. Happy 12th Birthday Shiro."

I placed the box in her hand and put her down on the bed. "A present for me? Can I open it?"

As if she needed to ask, "Of course, it is for you after all." I gave her a big smile, but then I saw her face change a bit as if something was on her mind.

I stared for a moment when she pointed at Sora and said, "Nii lied." She confessed

"Shiro, don't-" Sora tried to stop her but I glared at him causing him to freeze.

Turning back to Shiro I looked her in the eyes, gave her a little pat on the head and asked, "Go ahead, Shiro. What did Sora lie about, little one?"

She nods wiping her eyes, "We weren't waiting for you like he said, we lost the desire to play against Tet again without you around. We only pieced together that you were coming back a few days ago. Then Nii wanted to look all cool in front of you, so he asked me to play along. I didn't want to lie to you again." Shiro very passionately spilled the beans about what actually happened.

I cracked a smile, then slowly proceeded to laugh, at first softly then almost hysterically. "You two are really something else." I somehow regained my composure after a few minutes and then while I was catching my breath I said, "You know since we're being honest I wanted to come back right away, I regretted all of what I said. I feared that I said too much and that you wouldn't forgive me."

I bowed my head, "I'm truly sorry, what I did must have hurt you both. I know you two the best and should have had better patience with your antics. I do, however, stand by the lesson I was attempting to teach you both." I raise my head to the siblings.

Shiro was standing on the bed now so she could be taller, and tried to pat me on the head. I then bent my knees a bit to make it easier for her. "We were actually waiting for you but not like Nii said. We were hoping you'd come back so we could be a family again."

I hesitated to respond. "Even after all that?"

"If that's all it took to break up family that what good is family? We need to keep your thoughts and feelings in mind, always." She smiled.

Sometimes I was still surprised how adult Shiro can be about these things. Though she can still be a bit forgetful from time to time. "Aren't you going to open your present, Shiro?" I brought up her present.

She blinked repeatedly, remembering that I did in fact just hand her a gift, her red and gold eyes giving off a childish sheen. "Oh yeah!" She exclaimed as she proceeded to untie the bow and open the box. Inside the box was a bright red ruby necklace and gold bracelets.

She gazed at them with wide glistening eyes. "I figured they'd go with your eyes." I had them made when I was with the dwarves, luckily even here the minerals were basically the same. I even got them for free with the promise that they would be worn by royalty and basically be free advertising for the dwarves craftsmen. I assured them that it would be worth it. "I got them a little big but you'll grow into them I'm sure." I was glad I was able to give them to her. But then…

"Tatsu-Nii!" She tackled me and said something that I've never heard her say before not even to Sora. "I love you Tatsu-Nii. I love you."

Both Sora and I were in shock, Shiro didn't usually or rather ever say things like that. She always implied it by her tolerance of a person aka Sora and I. I wasn't sure what to do so I just returned the hug and said, "I love you too." I paused and turned to face Sora, "Both of you. That's what family does."

We're family after all. "And come what may, nothing is going to change that."

It was at this moment that I realized that something was missing. Rather someone was missing. I had no idea where Stephani was at this point, when I stormed in I assumed she'd be right behind me. Turned out that I lost her along the way here.

I got up still carrying Shiro, "Where's Steph? I figured she'd be with you." Sora asked clearly realizing the same thing I just did.

"I was just thinking the same thing." I propped up Shiro into a more comfortable spot on my hip. "Let's go find her."

Sora followed Shiro and me as we went on the search for Stephani. I racked my brain to think of where she would have gone. First, we tried the kitchen, my thought was that she wanted to get some food from her home. When we arrived she wasn't there.

We tried the bathhouse as she might have wanted to relax a bit after a long journey. We, no I, had Shiro go in so as to stop Sora from trying to peep on Steph if she was there.

Shortly Shiro returned shaking her head. "Not here." She said simply.

"Where could she be?" I asked aloud.

Sora lets out a loud groan, tired of walking. "Not to point out the obvious, but you guys have been gone for months. If I were gone for months, I know where I'd go… Bed."

It clicked to me just then. I hit my own forehead. "Shiro…"

"Hmm?" She acted all innocent staring up at me.

I laughed a little, "It looks like I really am a dummy."

"I know, but I don't care." That stung a bit but I sort of walked into it.

As we walked through the castle Jibril came around. "Masters I'm bored, your little human friend is back, so when are we going to attack another country like you claimed in your speech?"

Sora turned around walking backward to face Jibril. "Soon Jibril, for now, could you let the maids know it's their turn to use the baths?"

Sora instructed to which she happily nodded and flew on by us. "Yes master, I'll clean them myself." She giggled as she went off through a wall.

"Sora... you tell the staff when they can bathe?" I didn't recall that being in place before I left.

He turned back to face Shiro and I. "Yeah, I started this as a safe time rule. When I tell them to it means I'm busy and won't have time to 'bother' them." His tone sounded almost noble.

"So you set up a system to stop yourself from peeping on them. I'm impressed... Or I would be if I didn't know you better. You have Jibril make you invisible don't you?"

Sora tripped over himself. "What? Come on. Have you no faith in me?"

"No." There hadn't even been a pause in between our dialogue. "You're a pervert after all."

Those words must have struck him or something because he seemed hurt by it. Sora did manage to keep himself from falling down and followed up with, "So you and Steph must have gotten close with the 'love curse' lifted off her. She did stay with you after all. So how about it? Did you guys, you know?"

"No." I respond just as quickly as last time.

This time Sora did fall to the ground. "What four months and nothing? I'm disappointed."

"Sora"

"Nii."

I had stopped and turned so that Shiro and I were facing Sora.

"Pervert." We spoke in unison. which almost entirely ended that conversation for the time being.

* * *

 _-Outside Steph's room-_

We walked to Steph's room. The door was slightly open. Noticing this I held a finger to my lips to keep them quiet.

Peeking inside I tried to find Stephani, it didn't take long as she had indeed decided to go to bed. Though she didn't even bother getting under the bedding. "I'm not sure if I'm mad at myself for not thinking of this first or that Sora of all people thought of this first."

"Hey…"

I stared at him for a moment.

"Fair enough." He caved way too easily, maybe he really did change while I was gone.

I pushed open the door. "Sora, Shiro. Go ahead and head back to the kitchen or library. I'm going to stay here for a bit." I sent them back as I wanted to do something.

They nodded and headed back. They were surprisingly compliant to me right now. Maybe it was because we made up. It was a bit refreshing, to be honest.

I entered Steph's room quietly and carefully so as not to wake her. I sat on the edge beside her. _'She didn't even change or anything.'_ She was fully clothed and everything, so I took off her shoes and tucked her in the bedding. I pulled in close to her ear. "Sorry, for dragging you everywhere all this time." Before I pulled away I gave her a soft peck on the forehead. "And thank you for being with me all this time."

I then proceeded to walk out of the room to find Sora and Shiro were actually just outside the door so they could spy on us. "Tatsu-Nii, nice shot." Shiro held up a phone that had a picture of the kiss I gave Steph. Her thumb raised on her free hand to emphasize the "nice" of the image.

I couldn't help but sigh, "Something's never change."

"Would you prefer us any other way?" Shiro acted all innocent asking such a question. She knew just how to control me, not that I cared that much.

I then punched Sora in the arm. "Ow, what was that for?"

"That was since I can't hit Shiro." I followed up with, "No, I suppose I wouldn't have you two any other way. But I also wouldn't complain about a little privacy here and there."

The three of us smiled and laughed at each other, still just outside Steph's room.

I paused my laughter just a moment, "So Sora what your next move?"

Sora gave perhaps his evilest smile I'd seen since the time he freaked out Kurami to get into her head.

 **To be continued...**

* * *

 ** _I had intended this chapter to be kind of a "season one finale." Don't worry I'm still continuing. Just that it's wrapping up a major hurdle for the characters of Sora, Shiro, and Tatsuya, and now I can really get things moving forward on where I intended for things to head. Sora and Shiro will now take into account the effects of the games they play and the consequences of them. Don't worry they will still be ruthless in dealing with opponents and everything but they just have the forethought of others that are affected._**

 ** _I want to make this clear now as well, Shiro is not in a love triangle for Tatsuya (unless you count Sora lol), this was only meant to show that she is now fully committed to him being her family like Sora is. It is the love you give to family and nothing more. No incest. I would like to point out if it wasn't blanantly obvious but the presents are the same color are Shiro's eyes... according to the NGNL fan page. I nearly gave her a saphire as it's her birth stone but that would have been tooo easy... as if this wasn't any easier haha._**

 ** _That said, I do apologize for the wait, I mentioned my school and that I was focused on that, but now that it's taken care of for now I'll be adding to this a bit more until the next round of finals come around._**

 ** _I'm still trying to work out what sort of affectionate nickname that Tatsuya should call Stephani. I'm open to suggestions, of course, I'm trying to keep the character that I've created consistent, so please keep all suggestions appropriate. Thanks if you want to help_**

 ** _As always, please comment your thoughts, review, rant, correct, anything and everything is accepted. I'm doing this not only for me but for you guys as well. I welcome all forms of criticism and especially encourage the constructive type as I'm wanting to get better. Thank you all for reading and hope "Season 1" was to your liking._**

 ** _Until next time,_**

 ** _Shi-oon Yi signing off_**


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